The Trouble With Love
by SakuraBlizzard20
Summary: He loved her. She cheated. He found someone new, and vomited all over her shirt. Now his ex wants him back. Why does love have to be so troublesome? My first Shikatema story, review if you would like to see it continued!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own Naruto, its plot, or its characters. They belong solely to Masashi Kishimoto and this story is for entertainment purposes only, not intended to be copyrighted in anyway.**

**I DO NOT OWN THE COVER IMAGE FOR THIS STORY. It is solely for the cover of the story i created and do not claim ownership of it in any way.**

**Title: **_The Trouble With Love_

**Author: **SakuraBlizzard20

**This story is rated M for sexual themes, minimal alcohol use and language. Viewer discretion is advised.**

**This story is a ShikaTema story with a side of SasuIno. **

**A/N: **So, this is another story I am going to be working on along side of _The Crimson Blossom_. This story is going to be much more lighthearted compared to _The Crimson Blossom_, and since I already had this idea in my mind, I wanted to go ahead and post the first chapter (: if you would like me to continue, please share a review, because if I do not get enough feedback with this story, I will probably discontinue it. I will be updating both this story and _The Crimson Blossom _alternately. Thank you, I hope you enjoy (:

* * *

A box. A medium sized, brown box. That's what held everything we shared together in the past two years. Photos, letters, movie tickets and all the other dumb keepsakes that couples held onto. It was all there, every memory and cherished moment, confined into one single, corner torn, cardboard box.

I looked up to the blonde sitting on the couch in front of me. Her arms were crossed against her chest, along with her legs. Funny. The last time I saw her, she was laying on her back with her legs spread wide open for God and everyone, while Sasuke Uchiha went at her like a wild rabbit.

Now, she was glaring at me with non remorseful, pale blue eyes.

"That's all our stuff," Ino bitterly remarked after a long, extremely awkward, silence.

"What about my things?" I asked dryly. I had been staying at Chouji's house since the incident and had been rewashing the same outfit for a week because I had forgotten my clothes. You know, because the last thing you're thinking about when you're storming out of the house after pulling a naked man off of your girlfriend, is getting clean clothes for the rest of the week.

Her eyes narrowed, "I haven't gotten around to packing that stuff up yet."

I smirked, "You haven't gotten around to it? Not had the time?" I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, "I guess you wouldn't, since Sasuke probably came back for another round."

Ino's face turned a shade of pink that was almost identical to Sakura's hair, "How dare you?!"

My eyes widened, "How dare _I_?" I leaned back, chuckling sarcastically. What did _she _have to be mad about? After all, I wasn't the one to bring someone in the house, excuse me, _our_ house and laid on my back in _our _bed while some woman pleasured me with pasty white passion as I screamed her name for more.

Did I mention this happened in _our_ house?

Her eyes shifted away, "You told me you were going on a four day trip…" She said almost in a whisper.

I stood up, "It got cancelled by out clients," I replied, taking the box that sat on the coffee table between us into my hands, "Sorry I ruined your plans." I said this with all the sarcasm I could manage.

She clenched her teeth and shot up from the couch angrily, "Get the hell out, Shikamaru!"

"Gladly," I replied calmly to annoy her even more. She hated when I acted calm while she was seething with anger. "If I pass Sasuke on the way out, I'll make sure to tell him you're free and easy for the rest of the night."

"Ugh!" Ino stomped past me to the front door, swinging it open so hard it hit the wall, causing the windows to rattle, "This is why we would have never worked out anyway, Shikamaru. You never understood me and were an asshole with your sarcasm and hurtful words!"

"I'm sorry I didn't bring flowers for the occasion of walking in on you giving your sweet, sweet love to Sasuke," I bitterly retorted as I stepped into the doorway, "Or rather, I should have brought wine and a pair of scissors. That way, you could wash down his delicious juices with the wine as he used the scissors to get your clothes off even quicker."

She gasped as she aggressively pushed me out the door, screaming, "Go to hell!" She slammed the door shut behind me, the sound echoing through the neightborhood.

I turned around and yelled through the door, "Well, I hope you go to Heaven, because if you follow me to hell, the fiery pits could not possibly make me more miserable than listening to your moaning for all eternity!"

No reply shot back, surprisingly. I didn't care.

I looked down at the box in my hands while standing on the concrete steps of our small rented home. A photo laid on top of everything inside, the photo of us where Ino had her arm wrapped around my neck as she kissed my cheek. Although I looked annoyed in the picture, it had always been a favorite of mine, for an odd unknown reason. Maybe because it represented our personalities well. She was pushy, bossy, sassy and had pretty much every other characteristic you'd find in a true diva.

But she was sweet in the quiet moments, thoughtful, beautiful and creative.

And she cheated on me.

I growled as I held the box with one arm, and used the other to grab the stupid picture on top. I crushed it into my hand, the image quickly deforming and becoming nothing more than a piece of garbage. Because that's what our relationship was now. Nothing but a big piece of, lying, manipulating, cheating garbage.

I dropped the crumpled up photo onto the doormat so she would purposely see it then next time she left the house. She didn't deserve pity. She had no reason to be angry. She did this to us.

I walked down the stairs, passing by the old black garbage can that we had kept telling ourselves we would eventually replace because the dumb thing couldn't even keep a field mouse from digging through our garbage. I stepped in front of it, lifting the lid up. Holding a tear back, I dropped the entire box into the trashcan.

* * *

Where do people go when their homeless, have limited cash and have just lost the one person they thought would never purposely hurt them?

The bar, obviously.

I started off with two or three beers and decided that I didn't want to get buzzed or anything, since I would have drive back to Chouji's house and I had to work tomorrow. Stupid office job; I wouldn't have to be entirely sober for it. If you could train a monkey how to work a keyboard, it could easily take my job. And probably get a promotion before I would.

However, after seeing that they had a special on liquor, I couldn't help myself. So I took shots. A lot of shots. Of everything.

I was starting to feel something when I heard somebody sit down next to me, which usually wouldn't catch my attention, but it happened to since I was the only one sitting at that particular bar. The place was almost empty, besides a chick singing karoke who thought she was the next pop artist and a creepy guy in the corner who frankly might have been a serial killer. It was nine o'clock on a Wednesday, after all.

"One beer, please." The person, the _woman_, said next to me. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye. She was wearing a red, lowcut V-neck with blue jeans and black converse. She had dark, almost sandy, blond hair and dark eyes. Or maybe that was just eye shadow. I kinda had beer goggles at the moment, so I wasn't one hundred percent sure if she was wearing really dark eyeshadow or if she was some kind of demonic creature that only came out at night.

She caught me glancing at her and raised a brow, "Can I help you?"

I shook my head and turned away, taking another shot of vodka.

She turned her head away as well as the bartender sat an ice cold beer in front of her. She sighed, smiling. "I've been looking forward to this ice cold beer all day." she whispered, I think more to herself than to me, as she took the first swig of her beverage.

"The first drink is always the best," I said as she put her bottle down. "Really soothes the nerves on the way down."

Rather than ignoring my comment, she actually nodded in agreement. "There's nothing better than one of these after a long day." She took another drink.

"Their good on short days too," I remarked, "Doesn't have to be a long day for a beer that good."

She smirked, "I'm Temari." She stated.

I didn't really care what her name was, but I decided not to be rude. "Shikamaru," I replied as I downed another shot.

"Good grief, how many is that for you?" she grimaced beside me.

I shrugged.

"You'd better slow down," She said in a tone mixed with concern and irritation, "You ever heard of the saying, beer before liquor, never sicker?"

I glanced a fuzzy filled eye toward her, "What's that sposed to mean?"

She rolled her eyes, "See, your speech is already slurring. You should probably call it a night."

I huffed at her. Who was she to come in here telling me not to drink? I was an adult, I could drink what I damn well pleased. To state that to her, I purposely took another shot while glancing at her out of the corner of my eye.

"Ahhh…" I said in a refreshing tone as I slammed the glass onto the bar.

She looked both annoyed and slightly amused. "You're too gone to drive anywhere. Where are you staying? I don't mind to take you home, I wasn't planning on drinking much anyway. It is a Wednesday, after all…" She trailed off, undoubtedly judging me for drinking so much on a weeknight.

A hiccup escaped my mouth before I replied with, "I'm not staying anywhere because my cheating whore girlfriend kicked me out," The words came out before they registered. Did I really just say that to a person I had just met?

Or maybe I imagined it. I wasn't sure at this point. The only thing I was sure about was that my stomach was definitely beginning to feel a little queasy.

"Ugh," Temari must have saw the look on my face and she grimaced, "Look, you can't stay here all night and give yourself alcohol poisoning. I'll get in trouble if they found out I was a witness to your ridiculous drinking." she rolled her eyes. "And I really don't feel like filling paperwork out tonight."

The room was spinning too much for me to care about her smartass comment. I opened my mouth to reply, but rather than words coming out, a burp escaped instead.

She sighed, "You're lucky I'm a good person and that I've had a few drunken nights myself so I know what its like…" she began fiddling around inside her purse. I wasn't sure what she was looking for, I was too busy trying to keep myself upright on the stool.

"I'll buy you a hotel room and drop you off for the night, but after that, you're on your own." She said stiffly as she pulled out her keys and wallet. She slapped an unknown amount of dollar bills on the bar to pay for the drinks and stood up. She then wrapped her hand around my waist and put my arm around her neck, beginning to walk me out of the bar.

I honestly wasn't sure what was going on, all I could think about was how my stomach was jumping all over the place. I had never considered myself a drinker. Sure, I would have the occasional one while hanging with some friends, but never to the point of being a fall to the ground, annoying, puking white girl.

She basically dragged me to her car, which was either black or blue, I couldn't tell because of previously mentioned beer goggles, and pretty much threw me into her passengers side, strapping the seatbelt across my chest. I was kind of a drooling, blabbering mess. I had no idea what I was spewing to her and she obviously didn't either, since she wasn't replying to anything I was saying.

I remember that the car ride was long. Like an hour long. Maybe not that long, but that's how long it felt. My throat felt like it was tightening and my stomach was on fire. All I could remember was that I wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible. The motion was making my head even dizzier.

Finally, we stopped, thank God. She jumped out of the car while I was going on about something extremely passionate about pizza rolls, and ran over to her passengers side, swinging the door wide open.

She began to get me out of the car, when it happened.

My throat tightened, my stomach burned, and a hot, chunky liquid came shooting out of my mouth, interrupting my speech about said pizza rolls.

I had never seen a woman so furious. Even with my eyes fuzzy and the entire world spinning, I remember seeing the Temari's face turn from a pretty peachy color to a dark red. Steam may have even been coming from her ears, or maybe that was me hallucinating.

"You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding me!" she screamed as she threw me off of her, leaving me to fall on the hard sidewalk. "You asshole! This was a brand new shirt!"

I blubbered something that was supposed to be, "I'm sorry," but it sounded like something completely stupid.

After she had a moment to rant and rave about how I better not have messed up her shirt, she dragged me off of the ground and threw me back into her car, not even bothering to buckle me this time.

"Where…" I muttered, "are we going?"

"I'm taking you to my house," Temari said angrily, "I can't have you laying in a hotel room choking on your vomit. I really did not expect to be babysitting a grown man tonight."

"I'm…" I began blubbering again, "Sorry," I burped out, almost afraid that more vomit was about to go spewing.

But it didn't. She didn't say anything for a moment, then replied with, "Shut up and go to sleep."

I must _have _gone to sleep because I don't remember anything after that.

* * *

**A/N: **Ehh? What do you think? As you obviously caught onto, this story more of takes place in our modern world today. Shikamaru is more of sarcastic in this story and will continue to be so, although I will try to remain as much in character for him as I can. Like I said before, I want this to be kind of more lighthearted and funny, but also have a plotline. If you would like to see more, please review! Thank you, this is my first Shikatema story! (:


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Please feed by review addiction (: it helps me to get feedback. Thanks!**

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A burning, aching, blistering migraine is what I woke up with the next morning. My face laid on a soft couch cushion and a wet puddle of drool rested awkwardly under my face as a forest of midnight black hair hung in my eyes. The air smelt like an odd mixture of pure alcohol and ass. Of course, it would, being as there was a white trashcan in the floor filled with vomit only inches away from my face beside the couch.

I tried to lift my head, but instead groaned as my bones creaked with the stiffness of my body. Rather than holding my head up, it fell back into the disgusting warm saliva puddle, making a faint squishing sound that made me groan again.

I felt like I had been hit by a semi truck. Twice.

I, in a very sad attempt, tried to push the black mess that was my hair out of my eyes, only to immediately regret the choice. Rather than my vision being surrounded by comfortable darkness, it was instead greeted with blinding sunlight that I honestly believed was melting my eyeballs out of their sockets.

I reached down to pull the warm blanket that was surrounding me to cover my head, but instead of grabbing a blanket, I grabbed something much furrier…and livelier.

"Rerrraaaahhh!" a cat's scream echoed in my pounding head as I was then introduced to the stinging sensation of sharp claws digging into the flesh on my hand. Why the hell was there a cat here?!

"Mother Fu-" I began to curse while jerking away, but did not get to finish as I felt myself tumble off of the couch and groaned again as my face came in contact with the hardwood floor beneath me. The cat who attacked me, jumped onto my back and began kneading its paws in my shirt.

It was then that I was trying to make the choice on whether I was going to get up, or just die there on the floor with a cat on my back.

"What the hell is going on?!" A female voice shot across the room from me.

I shifted my head up to look at who held the voice. I was greeted with a blond woman in a black, short sleeved dress that reached midthigh, her chest was completely covered. She wore black high heels and her toes were painted a rusty red.

I would have found her very attractive if I wasn't wondering who the hell she was.

She examined the situation as I began crawling up to my knees, clutching my pulsing skull in my hands. "Did you attack my cat?" she asked, her tone was almost accusing.

"What?" I shot her a crazed look with one eye open, "Your dumb cat is the one who attacked me!"

"Whisper doesn't attack people unless she's threatened," The woman picked the cat up into her arms as it ran off of my back and straight to her. The stupid thing was a dark grayish black color with a white spot on her tail. "You shouldn't go around attacking peoples cats." she added as I stood to my feet, my head feeling like it would explode in any second.

"Who the hell are you and where am I, anyway?" The obvious question should have been asked five minutes ago. I looked around, realizing I was in a totally unfamiliar room. The couch I had been on just a minute ago was an ivory color with black throw pillows that were now lying on the floor. A low inch flat screen sat on the wall a couple feet away from the couch. A tall black table with two chairs stood in the corner of the room, in front of a huge window that the blinding sun was shining through. It was a decent looking room and looked like an apartment.

"Me?" The girl pointed to herself as she stroked her demon cat, "I'm just the kindhearted woman who took care of a drunk stranger last night." She raised a brow at me as her cat began nuzzling up against her neck, "You're welcome, by the way."

"Me?" I asked, almost mimicking how she had just pointed to herself, "That's not right…I don't drink enough to get drunk."

The girl let out a sound that sounded almost like a cough, but a laugh at the same time, "You don't get drunk?" her eyebrows furrowed, "Tell that to my brand new shirt you vomited all over last night." her tone was bitter.

I was going to reply to that comment, but was silenced by a jolt of pain as it rushed through my head and throughout the rest of my body. I had never experienced such a headache in my entire life. It was almost to the point I thought I was going to be sick.

She must have noticed me clinging to my head like it was going to come flying off my shoulders, because she suddenly said, "Sit down. I'll get you some coffee and an aspirin."

Without the energy to even try and object, I did as I was told and sat back onto the extremely comfortable couch. The cat, Whisper, jumped from her arms as she exited the room and hopped onto my lap, shoving its face into mine as she begged for attention. With the hand I wasn't clenching my head with, I pet her back as she dug her head into my chest and began purring loudly. I wasn't really a cat person, or a pet person for that matter, but the migraine was too much for me to try and fight the dumb thing.

Several minutes later, the woman appeared from her kitchen with a small white mug of coffee and an aspirin in her other hand. She basically shoved them at me, not like I cared, and I took the pain med enthusiastically as I downed a gulp of coffee. I didn't even care that it practically scorched my throat on the way down.

Praying the aspirin would kick in soon, I turned to the woman while taking another sip of coffee. I wasn't too fond of straight black coffee, but at this point I was so focused on the pounding in my head that the bitter taste didn't bother me too much.

"So, who are you?" I asked. She looked familiar to me, but I couldn't exactly place why.

"Temari," Temari muttered into her own coffee cup as she took a sip, "We met at the bar last night."

"Temari…did you order a beer last night?"

She nodded, "Do you remember anything about last night?"

I shook my head, "Not really…bits and pieces…I do remember sitting next to someone who ordered a beer…and riding in a really fast car…but the rest is black and fuzzy." I responded, trying to recall anything that had happened last night. So it was true, I really had gotten white girl wasted.

She raised a brow, "Do you remember being kicked out by some chick named Ino?"

I almost spit my coffee all over her floor. "Ino? How did you know I got kicked out by someone named Ino?"

Temari suddenly looked slightly amused, "You told me," she smirked from behind her mug, "Among other things…"

I felt my face begin to get hot. "What exactly did I tell you last night?"

Temari shrugged as if it were no big deal that I told a total stranger all my private business, "You told me she was a, ahem…_cheating whore girlfriend who kicked you out._ You told me you were living with your best friend, named Chow…Chiu…something like that, I couldn't exactly make out what you were saying through all your blubbering…" She snickered to herself. I wanted to kick her, but refrained myself. "You told me you a lot of things about pizza rolls, which frankly, I think you might be obsessed with them and have a problem. And you also made sure to mention, oh, I don't know, at least sixteen times that I had nice breasts and you wanted to, ahem, _fondle_ them."

This time, I did spit my coffee out. Temari looked annoyed.

"Hey! Control yourself, that couch is practically brand new!" she nagged.

I wiped away some coffee that was dripping down my chin, "I told you that you had nice breasts?" My face was on fire, it was almost enough to rival the pulsing headache that still lingered in my head.

Temari chuckled, "Several times. I appreciate the gesture, but I usually don't let strangers fondle my breasts."

I smacked my hand against my head, irritatingly making the hangover worse, "My God, I am so sorry…" I was truly embarrassed. Not only did I drink to the point where I puked my brains out and some stranger took enough pity on me to drag me to her home so I wouldn't die via choking on my own upchuck, but I also made sexual gestures to her? I was going to hell in a hand basket.

"Don't beat yourself up," Temari brought me out of my own degrading thoughts, "It was drunk talk, it usually happens when you down thirty six shots of alcohol on a Wednesday night." Her tone was both joking and slightly judgemental.

"I had thirty six shots?" My eyes stretched so far open that I thought my eyelids were going to burst.

"A bit of an over exaggeration," She reassured me, I took a deep sigh, "But you definitely had enough over your limit."

"Ugh…" I placed my coffee cup down on the floor next to me and leaned over, putting my head in between my knees and my hands locking behind my head. "Why did you even bother taking care of a drunk idiot like me, anyway?" my voice was muffled.

Temari sighed next to me, "Lets just say its part of an unspoken drunkard code I go by."

Curiosity peaked me, and I brought my head up slightly to look at her, "Uh…a drunkard code?"

"I had a few drunken episodes close, if not worse, in comparison to yours last night. One night, I was so far gone that I was passed out on the sidewalk because I couldn't even make it down the street from the bar. A guy picked me up…and rather than taking advantage of me, like most men would, he bought me a nights stay at a hotel room. I woke up, with a splitting hangover like the one you have now, and there was a note next to the bed. It explained where I was and what that guy had done for me. I was humbled by the experience…and decided that I would pass it on by doing the same for someone who needed it one day. That day just so happened to be last night and that person happened to be you."

I didn't quite know how to respond to Temari's little story. It was oddly nice and weird at the same time. Still though, I had to be grateful that someone who wasn't a mass murderer decided to help me out last night. However, although I was grateful, I felt extremely guilty I had been such a burden on her.

"I appreciate everything you did," I responded blandly, "I'm sorry I was just a burden on you."

Temari shrugged, "Don't make it emotional," she replied, "Drunken nights happen. Especially when you have a cheating whore girlfriend, as you put it."

I smirked, although I felt a stinging in my eyes. This little episode had made me forget what the true source of all my drinking had come from last night. I didn't want to think about Ino. She was the last thing in the world I wanted to focus on.

I was about to open my mouth to say something, when I suddenly heard my phone going off in my pocket, feeling the vibrations running through my leg. I quickly reached into my pocket to relieve the obnoxious ringtone that was just making my head split even more. As soon as I got it out to shut it off, my mouth dropped open as I saw who was calling me.

"Shit!" I screamed as I quickly flipped open the old piece of junk I called a phone, but it stopped before I could answer.

Temari had a questioning look on her face, "Something wrong?"

"I forgot I had work today," I bit my lip as I began trying to call my boss back, "My boss is going to _kill_ me." All the warnings I had gotten about being late were rushing through my mind. My boss was not an extremely patient man.

"Just explain what happened," Temari remarked as if getting hammered on a Wednesday was something that everyone did, "I'm sure he's had a few drunken nights himself."

I shook my head quickly, my brain feeling like jello sloshing around inside my skull, "You don't understand. Gaara is not the type to take his professionalism at stake." _Damn. _He was really going to fire me this time.

Temari nearly choked as she was sipping on her coffee, "Did you just say Gaara?" she asked, weirdly more interested than I expected her to be.

"Yeah," I raised an eyebrow to her.

"Short, redhead, looks like hes always wearing eyeliner?"

Her description was strangely accurate, "Do you know him?" God. The woman who took care of me during my intoxicated incident last night knows my freaking boss.

"Know him? Heh," She chuckled to herself, "I more than know him. He's my brother."

Fan-fucking-tastic. My boss was this chicks _brother_. Once she told him about this, there was absolutely no salvaging my job. That's it. I had to be reduced to begging.

"Please, you cannot tell him about last night," I couldn't imagine what I would do if I lost my job. Now that Ino had kicked me out, I was going to have to try and find a place on my own. I couldn't exactly do that if I didn't have a job.

Temari raised her hand to me, "Dude, chill," her voice was rigid, "I don't care about sabotaging you. Tell you what, I'll even talk to him. He won't run you through the wringer if I talk to him."

"Really?" Why was this girl so caught up on helping a stranger like me?

She shrugged, "Sure, ive got nothing better to do. Besides, I feel pity for you and your cheating whore girlfriend."

I raised my eyebrow at her interest in me, "Why?" Curiosity in my tone.

"Why are you asking questions when you should be getting ready for work?" Temari doubled back with a smart remark. Shit, I had almost forgot about work again. Come to think of it, I probably wasn't the best employee.

I quickly nodded as I ran to the bathroom to tidy up my appearance a bit. I was still wearing my work clothes from yesterday. There was a bit of vomit smudged on the collar of my button down, but I figured it wasn't ridiculously noticeable so I would have to ignore it. I slid some toothpaste on my finger and did a quick run down over my teeth, feeling guilty for not only being a nuisance on Temari, but now using her toiletries. I ran water through my hair and redid my pony tail, brushing through knots with my fingers. I wasn't one hundred percent, but it was acceptable looking, considering I was a drunken, blabbering idiot who liked pizza rolls way too much last night.

I ran out to the living room and quickly tossed on my work shoes that were sitting next to the door. I assumed she took them off for me, because I never remembered taking them off myself, if I was even capable of doing a simple task like that.

Temari looked me up and down once I was finished and nodded, "You look presentable, but you stink like vodka and hotdogs."

I wasn't really sure where the hotdog smell came from, but before I could reply with a comment, Temari picked up her purse that was sitting on the end table next to the door and retrieved a small bottle of perfume. Before I could object, she sprayed a spray on me.

It smelt like lilacs.

"I smell like a girl!" I complained through the strong odor.

"Don't be a baby," She rolled her eyes, "Lets get you to work."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry, i kind of flew through this chapter because its getting late and i have to work tomorrow, but i wanted to update the next chapter. Their may be some typos and errors, i will go through and check in the morning. Review! (:**


	3. Chapter 3

Everybody looked at me strangely as I walked into the office smelling like a hooker that had rolled around in a bathtub of lilacs. I couldn't blame them; The perfume was so strong that even the inside of my nose burned. I couldn't even blame the smell on Temari, since she suddenly got a phone call from someone named Matsuri while we were in the car on the way here. She told me to go on ahead; that she would finish up her phone call with the girl in her car. I wasn't exactly sure why she thought it was a good idea for me to leave without her, being as she was supposed to be my ticket out with Gaara.

I walked past all the questioning glances as I stepped into the elevator, quickly pressing the close door button and hitting the key that would take me to my level. I sighed as I tugged at my collar around my neck, praying that somehow by a divine spirit from above, they would bless me by not having Gaara completely rip me a new one in front of everyone. Gaara was a pretty easy going guy for the most part, until you made him mad. Then, he was the type to string you up in the middle of the office and have all the other employees throw stones at you. Okay, not literally. Or maybe. I wouldn't put it past him.

As the doors slowly opened and I began to step out, I was greeted by none other than a familiar face that was already standing in front of me, probably waiting for the elevator.

"Shikamaru!" Chouji's face looked extremely surprised, his usually squinty eyes were wide open and his hair bounced around with the shock in his voice. "Where the hell were you last night?!" He immediately began questioning as he grabbed my wrist, forcefully pulling me out of the elevator.

I rubbed the back of my head and tried to stand tall from the sudden jerking motion, "Sorry, Choj. I got caught up with…er…some stuff last night."

Chouji's eyes narrowed at me and his eyebrows immediately furrowed, "You better not tell me you were with Ino last night," His tone was a warning that if I confirmed I had stayed with her, he was going to punch me straight in my jaw. Chouji never particularly cared for Ino to begin with, he always said she was an obnoxious floozy, but his feelings obviously went down the drain with her when I told him that she cheated on me. Which, it should, since he was best friend.

"No," I held my hands up as if to surrender, "I wasn't with-"

"Because the last time I talked to you, you were going over to get some of your stuff, then I never heard back from you," Chouji annoyingly interrupted me, "Speaking of, you ever heard of answering a cell phone?" He pushed my shoulder roughly, "I called you like ten times last night!"

"My phone was-"

"And another thing!" Chouji intervened once again, "You left the trash outside without locking it in the trashcan! Some animal got in it last night and now theres paper towels and chicken bones all over the yard. You're cleaning that up for sure!" He raised his hands up and down in the air, he was definitely a hand-talker, and continued ranting a raving, not allowing me to get a single word in.

So I let him go on until he was finally out of breath.

"Are you done?" I asked with a subtle eye roll.

"What?!" Chouji got inches away from my face, "Not even close! You could have died last night, for all I knew, where the hell were you-"

"The employees in this dump have no manners at all," A familiar voice spoke from behind me, causing Chouji to stop his stupid ranting instantly and me to turn my head.

Temari, her black heels clicking against the hard tile floor, emerged out of the elevator as she was stuffing her cell phone back into her purple purse that hung idly over her right shoulder. "I mean, for fucks sake, they stare like they've never seen a woman before…" She looked up, raising a brow at Chouji and I, who probably looked a little strange with how close we were together. "Um…am I interrupting something?"

I forcedly pushed Chouji a few inches away from me and rubbed the back of my neck, "No, lets just get this over with and go talk to Gaara."

Chouji looked from me, to her, then back to me, "You know this woman, Shikamaru?" his voice was suddenly interested.

"Tch, not really," I crossed my arms as I turned my head to him, "This is who I was with last night…"

"Like…like a," Chouji began to whisper, although it was pointless because it was still loud enough for Temari to hear, "A one night stand?"

"As if!" Temari remarked amusingly before I could answer him, "A one night stand? Try a whole night of babysitting."

I felt my face begin to get hot, "Can we just go take care of this please?" I did not feel like going through the entire story of how I was a drooling adult baby that puked everywhere last night.

"Hm," Temari smirked as she waltzed around Chouji and I, her hips swaying from side to side as she pranced down the hallway with her high heels clicking on the floor like tap shoes.

I groaned as I glanced over at Chouji, who had his head turned slightly to the left as he was watching Temari catwalk down the hallway, her rear bouncing from left to right in an almost rhythmical motion.

I smacked his shoulder to withdraw him from his trance, "Put your eyes back in your head, man," I rolled my eyes.

"Damn!" Chouji's eyebrows raised as he turned to be, a smile spread across his pale, plump face, "You were with _her_? She is all woman!" He raised his hand as if to high five me.

I denied his high five, "It wasn't like that, don't be a tool."

"I would eat a cake off her any day…" He seemed to be talking more to himself than to me, and I could have sworn I saw a bit of saliva gather at the corner of his mouth.

"Earth to Chouji!" I punched his shoulder again, he snapped out of his inappropriate thoughts to glare at me, "I told you, it wasn't like that. Honestly, I got drunk at a bar last night and she helped me out. That's all it was."

Chouji arched a thin brow at me, "No sex?"

"No sex." I confirmed. I didn't even bother to tell him about how I subconsciously wanted to grope her breasts, apparently. He didn't need any more visuals going through his thick head. "The only reason she's here now is to talk to Gaara. He's her brother."

"_Gaara_? Gaara is related to_ that _woman?" Chouji looked just as surprised as I did when I found out, "They look nothing alike! Gaara is, well…Gaara and she is…well…_damn_."

I rolled my eyes as turned on my heels to walk down the hallway, following Temari down to Gaara's office. Chouji was right on my heels, still going on about her.

"I wonder if she likes barbeque," Chouji thought out loud as he began indulging himself in another fantasy, "There's nothing better than a girl who knows how to eat!"

"Why don't you ask her out then," I suggested sarcastically, "I'm sure you could definitely handle a woman like her."

Chouji snorted humorlessly, "Yeah right, a guy like me could never handle someone like her, I bet she's got the same temper that Gaara has…" His tone trailed off almost fearfully. "Speaking of Gaara, he is real pissed off at you. You'd better hope she can talk some sense into him…or else you may not get a pass on this one."

I sighed. I hoped she would be able to magically sway him with some sort of sibling sorcery.

As I approached the door that Temari had already walked into a few minutes before me, I stood before it and prepared myself to knock on the door. Chouji laid his hand on my shoulder before I did and muttered, "Good luck," before he suddenly disappeared back to his tiny cubicle to finish up some paper work.

Mumbling a silent prayer, I knocked on the door and waited until I heard a faint, "Come in," that obviously belonged to Gaara.

I did as told, opening the door and entering, immediately seeing Gaara sitting behind his dark oak desk, papers neatly stacked on either side of him, and Temari sitting on a corner of the desk. Her leg was propped up slightly as the other leg was straight, holding her up. If one were to look down and to the left slightly, the chances of them seeing Temari's panties under her black dress were high. That would no doubt send Chouji into a spiral and that almost made me want to smirk at myself.

But I didn't, because Gaara's dark eyes were glaring at me as he placed his hands on the table, his fingers intertwined with one another.

"Shikamaru," His voice addressed me with irritation in the tone, "I'm glad you decided to show up to work today."

"I am really sorry, Gaara," I immediately began apologizing, "I-"

"How many times does this make for you, now?" Gaara interrupted me as he unfolded his hands and placed his palms flat on his desk, he began standing up out of his black leather chair. "I do hope _you_ have been keeping count, because I have lost track." His eyes narrowed in anger at me.

I swallowed, "Gaara, please let me explain-"

"I have had quite enough of your explanations," Gaara's voice shot angrily over mine, "Pack up your office supplies and get out of my building."

"Please-" I began to beg.

"Shikamaru!" Gaara intervened over my words once again, I quickly shot a glance over to Temari, who suddenly stood to her feet.

"Gaara," Temari calmly interrupted as she took a few steps toward her now red faced brother, "I need you to cut him a break."

Gaara's eyes shifted from me to Temari crazily, as if he had just heard that eyeliner was no longer going to be sold in stores. "What did you say, Temari?" His tone switched from an angry pitch, to a tone of flabbergast.

"Cut him a break, theres a reason he is late today," She repeated as she glanced at me then back to Gaara, "He was with me."

It all happened extremely quickly after that one single statement. One minute, I'm praying that Temari can talk Gaara out of firing me. The next minute, I'm seeing a red headed blur with demonic eyes jumping on top of me and thrusting me to the ground. The next, I'm seeing a blond blur pulling the red headed blur off of me as I'm covering my face from any swinging limbs, then a snapping sound of one of Temari's black heels echoes throughout the small office room as she thrusts Gaara into his black leather office chair.

Gaara, out of breath and veins popping out of his red face, glared at me as Temari stood between him and I. I was still on the floor trying to register what the fuck just happened.

Temari let out a weird sound that oddly sounded like a dying cat mixed with a dinosaur, "Are you kidding me?!" she screamed as she kicked off her broken heel and picked it up off the floor, examining it a little too closely to her face. "This was a brand new set of heels!" She turned to me, furiously, "How many things of mine are going to be ruined because of you?!"

"Me?!" I shouted as I began to crawl to my knees, "Your brother was the one who attacked _me_!"

Gaara thrust himself out of his chair and slung a finger in my direction, "How dare you!" He yelled angrily, "You were _with_ my sister last night!"

Temari and I both looked at him with astonishing stares.

"Pack you shit and leave, Shikamaru, before I punch every one of your teeth out-"

"Gaara!" Temari shouted, interrupting him before he could completely finish his statement, "That's not what I meant when I said he was with me!"

Gaara strangely simmered down quite a bit after she said that, although he still eyed me as if he were going to lunge at me like a spider monkey again. "What else could that have meant then?"

"It means that Shikamaru was drunk last night-"

"Temari!" I shouted, intervening her to prevent her from telling him the truth, but it did nothing as she just simply talked over me.

"And I took him home because he was a drooling blubbering mess and I couldn't just leave him to drown in his own regurgitations." The rest came out quickly, almost in an unidentifiable jumble, but from the look on Gaara's face, he understood perfectly what she had said.

Great. I really was getting fired after all.

Gaara didn't respond for a moment, then he slowly looked at Temari and raised a very thin, almost nonexistent eyebrow, "This was the idiot who has the obsession with pizza rolls and vomited all over your shirt?"

My heart jumped into my throat. _HE ALREADY KNEW?! _Now, _I _was almost ready to lunge at Temari in a full out limb swinging war. I angrily looked at her like a hunting lioness would look at a gazelle.

"You already told him?" I clenched my fists at my sides as I viciously glared at Temari.

She held her hands up as if to indicate that she came in peace, "Hey, I had to tell someone that there was a stranger on my couch so that if you woke up and murdered me, there would be some sort of witness," She tried to make light of the situation, but I did not bat an eyelash in amusement. "I called Gaara…we are very close and I tell him everything."

"So you decided that, in your little sibling trust circle, my job wasn't of importance?" I bit back bitterly.

"I didn't know that you worked for him!" Temari shot back, "How was I supposed to know that my little brother was your boss? You sure as hell wouldn't tell me, seeing as all you kept talking about was how you wanted to touch my-"

"Enough," Gaara simply held a hand up, palm facing towards us, as if to silence us. I didn't care though, I was just thanking God that he had decided to stop her there before I saw another crimson flash throw me to the ground and start beating my head in.

Before Temari could object and open her big fat mouth anymore, Gaara looked at me, his previously tomato red face now turned back to its normal pale color, and said, "Shikamaru, I understand that you and your girlfriend broke up?"

God, just how much did my boss know about my personal life anyway? "Yes, how did you-"

"Chouji told me briefly while he was trying to cover your tardiness this morning," Gaara deadpanned as he slowly lowered himself to sit back in his chair, "I understand that you are having personal issues that sometimes will lead to indulging. However, please do not let this interfere with your tardiness again. I will give you _one _more pass, but next time I will not be so forgiving."

Forgiving? You called _this_ train wreck forgiving?

"Ah, uh," I nodded as I stammered for words, "Y-yes sir. I apologize."

Gaara simply nodded in acknowledgment, then looked at Temari, "Thank you for clearing things up."

Temari smiled, my jaw dropped open. They called this _clearing things up?!_

Temari looked back at me, her expression looking both amused and irritated. "By the way, your car is still at the bar," She said blandly.

Shit, I had completely forgotten about my car!

"Chouji can pick it up for you on his lunch break," Gaara stated as if it were already a known fact, although I already knew Chouji would be angry that Gaara was taking precious time away from his food. "You are already three hours late and you have much work to get done, so you will work through your lunch break today."

I groaned, but then straightened up when Gaara shot me an evil look that frankly resembled that of a reanimated corpse.

"Yes sir," I quickly stated.

Gaara then dismissed me and I quickly left the room before I pushed my luck any further with him. As soon as I stepped out of the room, there were several people outside of the office that were staring at me, obviously curious of what all the ruckus had been from inside. I just shrugged and smiled warily as I passed them, eager to get to my desk to get all the stupid paperwork done so I could go home and forget about this entire day and last night.

As I sat in my small cubicle and turned my computer on, I saw Temari poke her head over the pale wall of the small confinement box that seriously resembled a small prison. I turned my head slightly to her, unamused by the stupid grin that was plastered on her face.

"Glad I could help you keep your job," She stated as if she had done the job perfectly without any complications.

I scoffed at her, "You call that helping?"

"He didn't fire you did he?"

"No."

"Then I helped," She retorted back at me as she backed down from the top of the wall and came around the corner to stand beside me, "and you owe me new shoes and a new shirt."

"Whatever," I replied as I turned away from her and began getting the settings ready for the mountain load of paperwork I would have to finish today, "After you leave, hopefully you won't ever have to see me again."

"Hopefully," she remarked as she rolled her dark eyes. I decided not to reply to her smart ass remark. "Anyway, good luck with the cheating whore girlfriend."

"Hmph," I breathed at her.

She then turned around and began flaunting herself through the office, barefoot now, every male in the place staring at her ass as she walked by. I had to admit that she was no doubt a very attractive woman, but I certainly hoped I would never see her again.

And of course, that is when irony likes to bite you in your ass the most.

* * *

**A/N: I am glad you guys are enjoying the story! Do me a favor and keep those review rolling in, I love to hear from you guys! The more reviews I get, the faster I feel motivated to update, so fire away! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I got really into the last chapter, and decided to update a little earlier. I was supposed to do the next chapter of _The Crimson Blossom_ but I couldn't wait to write another chapter of this and I got some really awesome feedback. There are two things in this chapter you should know beforehand:**

**1) There is a bit of smut in this chapter! Woohoo for perverts! That's the goodnews.**

**2) You're probably not going to like the situation in which the smut takes place. You'll see what I mean in a few moments…**

Enjoy!

* * *

Today was going to be a normal day if it killed me. I was off work, I never worked Fridays, I oddly worked Sunday through Thursday, and I was going to make this a good day. No drama, _absolutely no _drinking, and just taking a relaxing day to be lazy and do nothing. I say that I deserved to watch TV and eat junk food all day.

Chouji was at work, so it was just me alone in the house to do whatever I wanted. I loved Chouji, he was my best friend after all, but I loved it even more when I was able to have some personal alone time. With Chouji around, there was no such thing as alone time. He always wanted to hang out and eat. Mostly eat.

I had gotten up around twelve o'clock, ate a bowl of cheerios and took a shower. Once I was out of the shower, I dressed myself in my lounging black sweatpants that were easily accessible for me to shove my hand down my pants and I didn't even bother putting a shirt on. Because this was a day for me to do whatever I wanted, and I didn't feel like putting a shirt on. If I had the option to be naked all the time, it would definitely be a lifestyle suited for me.

Just as I had made myself comfortable on the torn and tattered brown sofa that Chouji bought cheaply from a guy named Steve on the internet, I heard a very loud and obnoxious knocking on the door. I groaned first, immediately becoming annoyed that I would have to get up and see who it was. Then I was wondering who the hell would want to come by in the middle of the afternoon.

I struggled to get off of my ass and carried myself unenthusiastically to the door. Expecting the mailman or some girl selling cookies, I looked through the peep hole before I opened the door.

I thought my eyes were going to bulge out of my head when I saw that it was neither a mailman or a girl scout.

I placed my hand on the doorknob, taking a deep breath before I unlocked the top hatch, and slowly cracked the door open so I could physically see who I thought I was seeing.

"Open up, Shikamaru," The high pitched, absolutely _irritating_, voice spoke into the crack.

It was Ino. Motherfucker.

I opened the door up wide enough for me to stick my head and the left side of my body out. Ino stood in front of me, dressed in a red flannel with black leggings and brown fuzzy boots. I wasn't sure why the dumbass was wearing a long sleeved flannel and boots when it was eighty five degrees outside, but if she was too stupid to know how to dress for the proper seasons, that wasn't my concern. I was more concerned with ignoring the urge in my head that told her to kick her in the shins and slam the door shut.

"What do you want?" I squinted my eyes at her and lowered my eyebrows, my tone not holding an ounce of hospitality.

"Stop looking at me like that," She crossed her arms and furrowed her own light eyebrows, "I came here to talk."

I scoffed at her. My head was right, I should have kicked her.

"Unless the next words out of your mouth are, 'I brought your stuff over', I have no interest in talking to you." I snapped as I began slamming the door in her face, but the dumb bitch blocked the door with her foot so I couldn't shut it all the way. I glared down at the hideous, furred boot and looked at her with death in my eyes. "Move."

"No," She bit back just as hard, "I need your help and I'm not leaving until you talk to me." Her tone softened a bit as she said the last part, and her eyes became gentler.

It had no affect on me. Maybe once it did, but not anymore. I just spread a big, sarcastic grin on my face and snorted, "You need my help?" I asked, forcefully making my tone sound soft, "You need…_my help_?"

Ino's jaw clenched, "Yes. I need your help."

"Came to invite me to a threesome with Sasuke?" I raised my eyebrows and subtly batted my eyelashes at her.

I could tell she wanted to shove her fist far down my throat by the way her face began to turn a furious shade of red. "Don't bring him into this," She said behind clenched teeth, "This is about me and you."

"There is no me and you, anymore, Ino. You gave that up when hopped all over Sasukes dick," I usually never talked like that, especially to a woman, but I didn't care. I was furious that she even had the audacity to show up to this door and ask me for my help.

Ino's fists clenched so tight at her sides I could see her veins begin to pop out in her arms, "Since you're obviously too busy making _immature_ jokes, I'll just come right out and say it," I rolled my eyes at her emphasis on immaturity, when in reality she was the queen that sat on the damn immaturity _throne_, "I need money."

I tried, I really did try, but I couldn't hold back the burst of laughter as it exploded out of my mouth. Loud, obnoxious, sarcastic laughter echoed through the street. Some random people riding bikes on the sidewalk even turned their heads to stare at me like I had lost every shred of my mind.

"I'm serious!" Ino yelled over my extremely loud laughing.

I pretended to wipe a tear out of my eye, "_That_ is hilarious. Thank you, I needed a good laugh today." I replied between catching breaths.

"We were supposed to share the rent of the apartment we got together," Ino ignored my smart alick remark, "I don't have enough money to pay this months rent. I need your half." she held out her hand, palm faced up, as if I were going to magically pull out four hundred dollars and politely put it in her hand.

"Oh, you mean the apartment you kicked me out of?" I asked, Ino's reaction was simply a glare, "I don't think so. Tell you what, why don't you ask Sasuke for it?"

"I already did, I asked him to move in with me." she responded in almost a mumble.

"And?"

"And he said he didn't want to, because that would be moving too fast…" Her voice trailed off as if she were ashamed to be telling me this, which she probably was, "And he said that he didn't have the money to outright give to me."

"Sasuke, son of the owner of the Uchiha enterprises, doesn't have the money?" I simply grinned at her, her agony and ignorance was just too much to handle, "Didn't his Dad buy him a mansion? And isn't it made of gold with sheets and linen made out of Panda?"

"Shikamaru, stop being stupid," She irritatingly replied, "I need your half."

"Sorry, I have no money for you," I said crossing my arms, "You'd better hurry up and get it though, isn't the rent due next Tuesday? I hear the strip club is hiring."

I fully expected her to explode after my comment, but I was actually very surprised when she didn't. She just looked at me, then shyly whispered, "Shikamaru," in that flirty yet soft way she would often say my name. And she knew it usually drove me wild when she talked in that tone.

Before I could reply back, cursing her yet again, she unexpectedly wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled herself into an embrace, my arms weakly hanging by my sides. Honestly the movement was so unexpected, I didn't quite know how to react to her. Her cheek rested against my bare chest, her light honey hair overflowing on my skin and sending a slight tickling sensation through me. Her head was just below my chin and I could smell the rose petal shampoo that she used every time she washed her hair.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and reached behind me to grab her small wrists and unhook her hands from around my waist. I placed them back to her sides and looked her in the eyes, "Ino, what are you doing?" My tone was firm, but not loud.

"I need your help," She said in the most pitiful sort of way, "Please, Shikamaru…if you help me, I'll _help_ you…"

I opened my mouth to object, but was instantly silenced when Ino stood on her toes and kissed my open mouth. She brought her arms up, placing her right hand on my cheek and her left on the back of my head, digging her slender fingers through my hair as she firmly held onto it and slipped her tongue in my mouth.

My brain told me to push her the hell off of me and slam the door in her face. But my body and my heart reacted to her kiss. God…she felt so damn good. Not even realizing what I was doing, I wrapped my arms around her small waist and pulled her against my chest, her chest slamming into my bare skin. Slowly, her hand that was slightly tugging on my hair, made its way down to my chest where she began drawing little circles on my peck with her small fingers. As the kiss deepened, she managed to push me back until we completely opened the front door and we were both standing inside the house.

This was wrong. She cheated on me, she was using me in the only way she knew how. She knew exactly what worked with me, from her tongue circling around mine inside my mouth, all the way to how the circling motion on my bare chest drove me wild. She was using her knowledge against me, to gain what she wanted.

_Wake up, idiot! She cheated on you, remember?!_ I screamed at myself.

Just as I was about to break off the kiss and send her packing, I felt her hand slowly reached down to the band of my sweatpants and slip inside, not only the pants, but my boxers as well. She stroked me gently, her other hand reaching up behind my head to tug at my hair.

I tried to make myself push her away, but the more she touched, the more I turned to mush.

The next thing I knew, I forced her against the wall so hard that a hanging picture frame came tumbling down. Ignoring it, I picked her up, her legs wrapped around my waist as I began forcedly unbuttoning her shirt. The next thing I knew, clothes were coming off quickly and being thrown in every different direction. I don't even remember how we got to the bedroom I was borrowing, and honestly at that point I didn't care. I never considered myself to be a typical male that succumbed to sexual desire, but I had to have her. I threw her on the bed, feeling every inch of her skin under my fingertips as I traveled everywhere on her body. Every familiar curves that I had touched, every sweet moan that escaped from her lips as I poured my love into her, it was breathtaking. She buried her warm face into my neck, nibbling and kissing all the way down to my collarbone as I held both her breasts that always fit perfectly in my hands. In that moment, she had never cheated on me. It was us again. The passion we had, the love I had for her overfilled me. We were in love again.

God, I loved her.

In reality, our sex had probably only lasted twenty to twenty five minutes, but to me, it felt like forever. She felt like mine again.

We both fell asleep after we were done. She laid, completely bare under the covers against me, her legs intertwined with mine. Her face laying on my chest as I felt every breath on my bare skin. She was warm. My arm was wrapped around her waist as I fell into a sleep, a sleep I hadn't had this good since I found them.

As warm as I was in that moment, I woke up a few hours later very cold. I cracked my eyes open sleepily, first noticing the window to my left that told me the sun was setting; It was most likely around six or six thirty.

The second thing I noticed, was that I was alone. Naked and alone, with my arm wrapped around a very fluffy pillow, rather than Ino's waist.

The third thing I noticed, was that I usually kept my brown leather wallet on the nightstand next to my bed. And that it was gone.

* * *

I hated myself. No, _hate_ wasn't a strong enough term, I _loathed_ myself. I was my absolute worst enemy. I didn't even hate Ino in that moment more than I hated myself.

Completely disgusted with myself, the fact that I had completely surrendered to that cheating bitch, made me want to vomit. I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror, I couldn't even allow myself to watch tv. I had to get out of the house. Out of this lust filled prison that I had been locked into only a few hours ago.

On a day when I am stressed to a maximum level, I always go running. Yeah, I know, I'm one of _those _people, but I discovered that running calmed my nerves a couple years ago when my Father died. He died of brain cancer, nobody knew he even had it until it was too late, and I went into a spiral. Of course, I was seventeen when he died and wasn't legally old enough to drink like I was now, so I took up the hobby of running. Getting out into the fresh air, on a hiking trail was my favorite place, allowed me to discontinue any thoughts that were bothering me.

I left the house and went to an old trail park that was a favorite of mine. I ran through the trees and over the hard dirt ground, feeling the chilly wind hit my face and my old tattered shoes stepping on stones. Out here there was nothing. Only nature. Only dark clouds as they drifted by in the quickly dimming sky, the full moon lightening their features as it raised higher in the sky the longer that time went by. If there is such thing as reincarnation, I would want to be reincarnated as a cloud. Floating aimlessly by, not having a care in the world. No stress. Just being a cloud.

Of course, as running does indeed clear my head, sometimes it clears it to the point where I just really don't pay attention to what I'm doing. In the middle of my cloud thoughts, I was quickly jerked out of my own inner dramatic monologue, when I tripped over something that I surprisingly didn't see and went tumbling down to the ground, smashing my face in the dirt and getting a mouth full of the unpleasant powdery mass.

I coughed up dirt, and probably a few leaves, as I struggled up to my knees, turning to see what it was that I had just tripped over.

I almost shit myself when I was greeted with a snarling Husky only inches away from my face. A blue collar hung from its neck and it was unleashed completely.

How the fuck did I trip over a huge dog without knowing it?

The dogs teeth were bared, a bit of saliva sliding down its chin as its blue eyes glared into mine. This dog was obviously pissed, I probably would be too if someone tripped over me because of not paying attention, and it was actually scaring the hell out of me.

"Uh, nice dog," I commented with a sly grin on my face, as if the dumb thing could understand me. The dog took one step toward me, a loud bark ringing my ears, as I quickly realized that I was probably going to be ripped apart in a few seconds.

Oh well. Hopefully I would get reincarnated as a cloud.

"Boomer!" a voice shouted out as I quickly began to cover my face with my arms. "Down, boy!"

The dog, almost magically, withdrew itself and turned along with my head to the direction the voice was coming from. The dog began wagging its tail as a shadow began to emerge from a different intersecting trail and I was just automatically relived that I wasn't going to die today.

Although, considering the type of day I had, death may be a better alternative at this point.

"I've been looking everywhere for you, asshole," The _female_ voice bitterly murmured as she came running up to the dog, immediately grabbing it by its collar. "No more unleashing for you," She snapped angrily, ignoring the fact that I was almost brutally shredded by her stupid dog.

The first thing I was greeted with, being as I was on the ground, was a pair of old red converse shoes. The heels on it were a bit torn and they were rather dirty. Hardly the type of footwear to be running in, but whatever, it wasn't my concern. Then as my eyes traveled up, I was greeted with a pair of black yoga pants that clung nicely to slender legs and thicker thighs. A green tank top was introduced next that read, "Foods before Dudes". I had to admit the shirt was a bit amusing, but every ounce of humor in the phrase vanished when I met the face of the mystery owner of the dog.

"You!" We both yelled at the same time while thrusting a finger in each others direction. The dog looked from me to her, and back a few times, strangely seeming to be confused by the situation.

It was Temari. The one person I hoped I would never have to see again.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I asked before she could open her mouth first.

"Um, its public trails, do you own them?" She asked sarcastically as she surprisingly lent a hand for me to grab while helping me out of the dirt.

"No, but I didn't expect to see you running here so late," I said as I took her hand and stood completely to my feet, "I also didn't know you had a dog…" A vicious man eating dog.

"Boomer? He's not mine, he's my brother Kankuro's," Temari said as she absently reached down and stroked the Husky that was now looking up to her for attention, "I'm walking him because my dumb brother broke his leg after climbing a ladder the other day."

"You have another brother?" I can only imagine what family reunions must be like.

"Yeah, but we're not as close as Gaara and I. I only really see him once every two weeks." Temari said, "Why are you out so late?" She asked, "Not that I care or anything," She decided to add last minute.

I sighed as I dusted some dirt off of my thighs, "It's been a long day."

"Cheating whore girlfriend?" Temari smirked with an eyebrow raised.

I furrowed my eyebrows at her, "How did you know that?"

"I didn't," She said as she gripped Boomers leash tighter in her hands, "Just an educated guess." Boomer started licking her hand, she withdrew it with a grimace plastered on her face. "I hate dogs." She growled as she glared at her now saliva soaked fingers.

"Hmph," I replied simply as I began to walk around her, "I guess its getting a little late. I better head back home." I shoved my hands in my pockets, "Man, when I tell Chouji what happened he's really gonna knock me the hell out…" I mumbled more to myself than to her.

She still heard it though, "You're already going home? What a sissy," she looked down at Boomer and smiled, "It's a Friday night at eight o'clock. Live a little, dude."

"I've done plenty of living today," I shuttered as the self loathing began to creep over me again, then I looked Temari in the eye, "You're lecturing me, but do you have any plans?"

"I go where the wind takes me," Temari smiled as she closed her eyes gently, "You should try it. Want to grab a cup of coffee?"

I raised a brow at her, the sudden invite was surprising, "You want to be seen in public with me? I thought you and I agreed we didn't want to see each other again?"

"We did," Temari shrugged, "But what the hell, you're here, I'm here, might as well do something. It beats going home to lull around in your own pity party."

I scoffed at her, "And getting coffee is your idea of _living a little_?" I shot a crooked smile at her, "That's pitiful."

"Well, usually I would grab a beer with someone," her eyes wandered as she crossed her arms, "But frankly, I never want to see you around alcohol again. So coffee will have to suffice."

"Very funny," I rolled my eyes as she let out a single chuckle, "I don't even like coffee that much."

"Oh my God, you complain so much," Temari complained irritatingly, "Suck it up and be a man, for fucks sake." She said this seriously, but she followed it with a small smile.

An extremely subtle smile formed at the corners of my mouth. Good God she was annoying. "Fine, we can go grab some stupid coffee."

"Thank you for honoring me with your presence," she sarcastically replied as she turned her back to me and began walking down the trail towards the park, with Boomer following right behind her heels.

"What about the dog?" I asked as I followed her and the flesh eating monster.

"We'll sit outside," she replied without looking back, "Unless you're going to complain about the flies getting in your hair."

I crossed my arms and breathed, "Hmph," at her. She was so irritating and bossy. But I couldn't help to hold back a small grin.

* * *

**A/N: I told you that you wouldn't like it! lol. Don't fret, as i clearly stated, this is definitely a ShikaTema fanfic. Everything is all playing into my master plot :) I hope you enjoyed!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Yes I am alive! I have been a lot busier lately so I just have to update when I get the chance. Unfortunately, other updates may be a little slower. Sorry in advance! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!**

* * *

"Wow, you really did fuck up, huh?" was the very first thing I heard after a very long and awkward silence.

Temari sat directly in across from me at the small café table, mixing cinnamon flavored cream into her natural house blend. Her blond brow was arched slightly at me, as if judging me for the story I had just shared with her. Boomer laid at her ankles, eating some sort of bug he had tried to catch for the past five minutes.

She probably was judging me; I couldn't blame her. I was pathetic and pitiful. I agreed to go get coffee, only to realize after id already ordered, I didn't have my wallet. Temari had to jump in to the rescue and float me money for the green tea I ordered. How many times was she going to save my ass in awkward situations?

Then, after paying for my tea, I had to explain the painfully embarrassing story of why I didn't have my wallet. Which earned my a stare from her like I was the dumbest person on the planet.

Hell, I probably was.

"Did you report your credit card stolen, at least? Even if she has that one, you can just cancel that card and go get a new one." Temari sipped on her coffee as she threw a piece of the cinnamon roll she had also ordered to Boomer. Boomer gobbled and swallowed it, without even chewing.

"I reported it stolen with an automated service," I confirmed as I idly played with the string hanging from my teabag, "The banks are closed until Monday. I wont be able to get a card until then."

"At least she cant get to your money," she said, throwing another piece of roll on the ground.

"She already got the money she needed for rent," I muttered bitterly, "So in the end, she still got what she wanted."

"Lighten up," Temari placed a piece of cinnamon roll on my napkin in front of me, "It was a stupid thing for you to fall for, but it could have happened to anyone."

"Hmph," I breathed at her as I picked the roll up and put it into my mouth, "Do you not like the cinnamon roll?"

Her eyes were questioning, "Why do you ask?"

"You keep throwing pieces on the ground and scooting some over to me," I observed.

She shrugged, "Its alright. I don't eat too many sweet things these days. After I sobered up, I started eating healthier. I only eat stuff like this every once and a while. Its too sweet for me." She pushed the half eaten roll away from her.

"Once you sobered up?" I brought the focus back on her previous comment.

She leaned back and crossed her arms, "I told you about the drunkard code, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "You mentioned you used to drink a bit."

She snorted sarcastically, "A bit is an understatement. I used to drink night and day. I honestly don't remember most of the ages twenty through twenty four."

I frowned, "That's sad." I remarked. I had expected her to shoot back with a smart ass remark as usual, but she didn't. Her face was very serious as she looked into her coffee mug and replied,

"Yeah. It is."

Based on her response, I felt like I was beginning to tread on personal territory. I decided to turn it around.

"Where do you work?" I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

She looked up at me, "Why?" she asked simply.

I shrugged, "The amount of time we've been together, I don't know hardly anything about you."

Her expression looked unphased, but she replied with, "I work as a secretary for Fugaku Uchiha," she replied.

My eyes widened, "Uchiha enterprises?"

"I don't know of too many Fugaku Uchiha's, do you?"

"Wow," I replied, "Uchiha enterprises is a hard company to get into. They don't hire anyone but the best." I bitterly remembered how I had applied for a position there and got shot down because I didn't meet Fugaku's _perfect qualifications_.

Temari shrugged, "Its nothing special. I'm just a secretary; easily replaceable."

I shook my head and frowned, "I don't think you would be that easy to replace."

My compliment must have embarrassed her. Her cheeks turned a very light pink and she looked away, "Whatever that means," she stammered back.

I smiled. I'm not exactly sure why. Ever since I had met Temari, she had been this intimidating, independent woman who seemed to not be afraid of anything. Now sitting across from me, her cheeks a slight pink and her eyes wandering, she didn't look so intimidating…but rather, gentler.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when she picked up her coffee and took a sip, but pulled it back with a grimace.

"Whats wrong?" I asked.

"It needs just a bit of sugar," she replied, her cheeks turning their normal peach color, "It's a little bitter."

She began to stand up to go inside the café for the condiment table, when I reached over and grabbed her mug from her hands. She looked at me curiously, "What?" She questioned.

"I'll go get sugar for you," I replied as I began to stand out of my chair. "I'd like to grab a few packs for my tea, anyway. It is the least I can do since you bought mine."

Temari looked for a minute as if she were going to object, but then sat back in her seat and shrugged. "If you say so," she replied, throwing the last half of her cinnamon roll down to Boomer. Boomer swallowed the whole thing in one bite that made me grimace.

Without another word, I grabbed both mugs and walked inside the coffee store, eyes immediately set on the condiment table. I sat both mugs on the red table and put one pack of sugar in her coffee and two packs in my tea. Just as I had grabbed the mugs and was about to turn around and go back outside, I felt someone bump into my side roughly, causing me to drop my mug of tea and the drink the other person was holding to spill all over my workout shirt. In an instant, the hot liquid that had spilled began seeping through my shirt and onto my skin. The heat was blistering.

Without the thought of public decency even registering in my mind, I dropped Temari's mug out of instinct-the glass shattering on the tile floor below me-as I grabbed my shirt and threw it off into the floor. The scorching coffee still on my chest, I went to grab some napkins from the condiment table, but refrained when I saw someone else had already beat me to the punch.

The pink haired girl started patting the coffee off of my bare chest-yes, it was as awkward as it sounds-then looked up at me with her emerald green eyes and exclaimed, "Oh my god, I am so sorry!"

Then, as our eyes met, it registered to us both who the other was.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura exclaimed before I could say her name first. "I didn't even recognize you in the chaos!"

I didn't respond, I just looked down at the two glass mugs I had broken from the incident, the mixture of coffee and tea accumulating under my shoes. Sakura followed my gaze down to the mess in the floor, and without even saying it, we both began grabbing napkins and bent to the floor, wiping up the hot beverage mess.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so clumsy," Sakura fought herself as she threw the napkins down to soak up the brown liquid, "I hope I didn't burn you too bad…" she looked at me as she bit her lip.

I looked down at my chest, it still tingled from the scorching pain of the hot coffee, and it was a light shade of pink. I shook my head, "It's alright." I replied as I grabbed a wad of coffee soaked napkins and threw them into the trashcan conveniently adjacent to us.

"Hey!" A loud voice yelled from behind the counter a few feet away, I looked up to see what looked like the manager of the coffee shop. "You're going to pay for those mugs!" He nagged while waving a finger.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"I'll pay for them!" Sakura interrupted me before I could fully respond, "It was my fault, I'll pay for the damage," she glanced at me reassuringly.

In a normal situation, I wouldn't let a woman pay for something like this, even if it _was _her fault. But since I didn't have my wallet on me to pay for them, I would have to swallow my pride and let her take care of it.

"And you!" The manager shifted his pointing finger at me, "Put a shirt on! We aren't taking photos for calendars here!"

"I'm sorry," I apologized as I stood up and threw another soaked wad into the trashcan. I grabbed my shirt off of the floor and put it back over my head, tugging it down over my torso. A coffee stain ran across the chest of my shirt.

Satisfied, the manager angrily mumbled something inaudible and walked off.

Sakura stood up next to me and threw the remaining soaked paper towels into the trashcan and sighed, "I'm really sorry, Shikamaru. I feel really bad."

I shook my head as I bent down to pick up the glass pieces of the mug, thankful that they were in big pieces rather than small ones. "It was an accident, its alright." I assured her as I threw the glass shards away, "I'm actually surprised to see you here so late." I said.

Sakura looked at me, then to the clock, and back at me. "Its only eight thirty." she said almost in a mumble.

I sighed. "Right."

"I don't even like coffee," Sakura bitterly remarked, "I'd much rather be at home taking a hot bath and drinking wine."

"You don't like coffee?" I asked, wondering the obvious question of why she was even buying coffee then.

"No, its for Ino," she replied with a sigh, "Apparently Sasuke is being a douche bag and she needed some coffee to calm her nerves-" She quickly covered her mouth with her hands as she looked at me with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I forgot who I was talking to for a minute…"

I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly, "Er, its alright. Its not my business."

"I am so stupid," Sakura smacked the side of her head, "I'm just being the worst person to run into tonight…"

She was right, of course, but I didn't say anything.

I heard a faint tapping on the glass window behind me. I turned around to see Temari tapping on the window with her knuckles, her facial expression unidentifiable through the tinted glass. She obviously must of heard the commotion from outside.

Sakura caught my gaze and saw her, then looked at me. "Is that girl with the dog with you?"

I turned back to her awkwardly and shifted, "Uh, yeah. I mean, we're just grabbing coffee."

"Oh…" she gave me questioning glance. I recognized it immediately. She was wondering if Temari and I were seeing each other. Sakura was Ino's best friend and I hadn't talked to her once since our breakup. She was most definitely going to run home to Ino and tell her that she saw me with some new girl. I groaned because it was annoying that women had to gossip about everything, but I shrugged it off. There was nothing I could do about it anyway.

"Anyway, I'd better-"

"I won't tell Ino, if you don't want me to." She coincidently interrupted me. It was as if she had read my thoughts.

I could have told her that I wanted her to keep it a secret, but I didn't. I don't exactly know why, but I replied with, "I don't care if you tell her or not. Am I supposed to feel guilty?" the statement came out harsher than I had intended.

"No, no!" Sakura quickly shook her head, "Not at all. For the record, I know that Ino is my best friend, but I don't agree with what she's done to you. You don't deserve what she's putting you through."

I raised my brow, "Putting?"

Sakura's eyes shifted away, "She told me about today."

I sighed. "Of course she did." It wasn't like I expected Ino _not_ to tell her. Her eyes glanced back into mine, then I said, "Did she tell you that she also stole my wallet?"

Sakura's mouth dropped open, "She did what?"

I snorted, "Guess not. Well, when you see her, tell her to return it. Or whatever, I don't even care."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, "I can't believe she would do that."

I shrugged, "Seems like nobody knows her as well as they think," I turned away from her on my heels and started to leave.

"Shikamaru!" Sakura yelled from behind me. I turned my head over my shoulder to look at her. Her eyes were sad and she frowned, "I'm sorry about all of this." She clearly wasn't talking about the coffee this time.

I didn't say anything, I just turned my head back around and walked out the door.

As soon as I stepped foot outside, Temari had Boomer's leash in her hand and she was standing by the door. Her eyes immediately fell onto my coffee stained shirt and she shot me a questioning stare.

"Are you okay?" she asked, strangely concerned. "What happened?"

I sighed with a shrug, "It was an accident." I retrieved my car key from my pocket and walked around her, "Thanks for the tea, I'll pay you back. I think im ready to go home and call this horrible day done."

Rather than hearing a sarcastic remark like I was used to, I simply heard, "I understand."

Temari followed up next to me with Boomer leading the front. We walked together to our cars in the parking lot; they were parked next to each other. She opened her drivers side door and Boomer jumped inside, immediately shoving his head out of the cracked passengers side window. Temari threw the leash inside and turned to look at me.

She must have noticed the glum look on my face, because her next statement was strangely sincere coming from her, "Tomorrow will be better."

I shrugged, "Hopefully.

"Don't worry about paying me back for the tea," she said as she crawled inside and turned her silver key in the ignition. As soon as the car started up, rock music began to blare out of the speakers.

"Are you sure?" I asked over the music.

"Yeah," she replied, "If you're really stuck on paying me back in someway, you can always buy me that new shirt and those new heels."

There was the smart comment I was expecting. I rolled my eyes and forcedly shut her door. She smirked at me through the window as she pulled out and drove off.

* * *

It took me about fifteen minutes to get back to Chouji's house, and right as I stepped through the door, I felt warm arms come at me from both sides, squishing me into an enormous bear hug that was frighteningly bone breaking.

I looked to my right, greeted with a face inches from mine that belonged to Chouji. His big plump cheeks jiggling as he laughed at my discomfort.

Then I looked to my left, greeted with a far too eager expression, bright blue eyes staring into mine with blond hair swooping down over his forehead,

"Ugh!" I breathed through the pressure around my body, "Chouji! Naruto! Let me go!"

Almost as if they were dogs listening to a command, they both released me at the same time, leaving me to pant silently for breath. The two idiots laughed together as they high-fived.

"Seriously?" I asked as I stood up straight, "How old are we?"

"Don't be a party pooper, Shikamaru!" Naruto grinned as he leaned over and slapped my shoulder, "Tonight is a very special night! We've been waiting for you to get home!"

"What happened to your shirt?" Chouji asked, his eyebrows lowered in concern as he eyed the brown stain.

"Accidentally spilt coffee on me," I replied.

"You don't even like coffee," Chouji frowned, "Who did you go to the café with?"

"It doesn't matter," I mumbled, "Why were you waiting for me to get home?" I quickly shifted to Naruto, eager to change the subject before Chouji could ask me anything more about the matter.

Chouji was almost about to object, but was quickly silenced as Naruto practically began jumping up and down, "Okay! You know how me and Hinata have been dating for almost forever right?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah,"

"And how she's so awesome, she always accepts me when I'm weird and even thought she's really quiet and weird sometimes, she's also super awesome-"

I crossed my arms, "Yeah."

"Not to mention she's beautiful! She's the perfect mix of beautiful and awesome, she likes ramen which is my favorite food ever, so she always wants to eat ramen when I want to-"

"Get to the point," I interrupted his love speech. When he got started on how _amazing_ Hinata was, there was almost nothing that could get him to shut his mouth.

"Okay, okay," he held his hands up as if to surrender, "I was thinking of asking Hinata to marry me for a while…I really want to start a future with her and all. So I asked her!"

I raised my brow, "And?"

"She said yes!" Naruo exclaimed as he jumped up and down next to me, "We're engaged now!"

I smiled. Although it had been an all around shitty day for me, at least someone was enjoying theirs. "Congratulations, that's awesome, Naruto."

"That's not all, though!" Naruto said as he grabbed my shoulders tightly, slightly catching me off guard. "The reason im here is because I want you and Chouji to be my groomsmen!"

"I said yes," Chouji smiled next to me, "What do you say, Shika?"

I nodded with a smile, "Sure, Naruto. That'd be an honor."

Naruto quickly grabbed me into a tight hug and laughed happily, "Great!" Just as I forcedly push him off of me, he leaned away, his face suddenly dropped from its joyful expression just a minute ago. His hands still clutched onto my shoulders tightly. "Theres…uh…just one thing, though."

I narrowed my eyes at him. No more bad news, please. I was wary of what he was going to say.

"What?" I asked firmly.

"Well…" He trailed off, trying to find the words. Chouji irritatingly sighed next to me.

"Just rip it off like a bandaid, Naruto," he said. "Sasuke is his best man."

"I'm sorry, I know its awkward!" Naruto immediately apologized before I could even get a chance to reply. Sure, it was definitely awkward, standing up in front of a congregation at a wedding with your ex girlfriend and her new boy toy. But I wasn't surprised. Sasuke was Naruto's best friend. They were almost like brothers in a way, although I never understood it, being as they had complete opposite personalities.

I shrugged Naruto's hands off of me. "Don't apologize, I get it. What is going on between Sasuke, Ino and I has nothing to do with you. Its your wedding. I wont object to anything you or Hinata want."

Naruto pulled me into another bone shattering hug, "You're the best, Shikamaru!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied as I tried climbing out of his embrace, "I'm happy for you, really I am. Im sorry though, I have had a day from hell. Can we talk more about it tomorrow? Im about to pass out, I need to get in bed."

Naruto and Chouji stared at me as if I had three eyes. They both glanced at the clock sitting on the wall, then back to me.

"Its only nine thirty!" Naruto exclaimed.

I sighed, ignoring the comment as I walked past them and forward to my room.

"Hey Shikamaru!" Chouji called as I turned the doorknob on my bedroom door. I turned to look at him. "Do you know what happened to the framed picture on this wall? I came home and it was lying on the floor, broken."

I flinched as I remembered the stupid picture falling earlier when I slammed Ino into the wall as we fell into a nothingness passion.

I simply shrugged, stepped inside my room and slammed the door shut.

* * *

**A/N: Not my favorite chapter so far, but things will be getting a lot more interesting as the wedding story arc begins :) keep with me, and as always, let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Shikamaru! Hey, Shikamaru, wake up!"

No. Go away whoever is screaming at me.

"Shikamaru! Get your lazy ass up!"

It was obviously Chouji, given the last remark of me being lazy. I huffed at him and turned over. What time was it anyway? Why was he waking me up so damn early on a day we didn't have to work?

"Don't huff at me," Chouji wrapped his large hands around my shoulders and began shaking me like a rag doll, "I will seriously drag you out of this bed!"

"Go. Away." I hissed darkly as I shook his hands off and pulled my comforter over my head, trapping me within a dark cocoon that I would not entirely hate staying in for the rest of my life.

Then, almost instantly, his annoying nagging stopped. My eyes still shut tight, I smirked to myself. I figured I had won the battle.

But I was wrong.

Suddenly, large, meaty hands invaded my perfect cocoon from the bottom and wrapped themselves around my ankles. My eyes shot open as if I were in the midst of being murdered. They began tugging at me, forcedly pulling me out from under my warm comforter. My fingers clawed at the bed sheets below me, strangely imitating a cat that was about to get thrown into water, trying to hold onto my beloved bed for dear life.

"No, no, no-!" I called as I was slowly dragged off of my mattress and my face was greeted with the hard panels of Chouji's hardwood floor. My covers fell on top of me as Chouji released my ankles from his ridiculous death grip.

I laid there for a few seconds, defeated. Why did I have a best friend who was not only twice my size, but twice my strength as well?

I threw the blanket off of me, struggling to my knees as I growled and threw my finger at Chouji who was standing directly above me, his arms crossed across his chest as he stood in victory.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled as I clenched my teeth, my head fuzzy from being rudely awoken from my sleep, "Why the hell are you waking me up so early?!"

Chouji, rather than responding, raised a brow and pointed at the black alarm clock that was on a nightstand adjacent to my bed. I weakly followed his gesture and saw that the clock read one o'clock pm. Okay, so I guess it wasn't as early as I thought.

I still shot him back a death glare though, "So? Who cares if its one o'clock, its not like I have to be anywhere today! Leave me alone and let me go back to bed!"

"Sorry, can't," Chouji snickered, obviously enjoying my torment.

"Why the hell not?!"

"Because there's someone here for you,"

All my anger oddly vanished in an instant and my face fell. Who in the world would be here to possibly see me? The only ones I could think of were either Naruto or Ino. Naruto, because he wanted to discuss the wedding, or Ino because maybe she wanted to come back and take whatever shred of dignity I had left. However, I guessed by the calm expression on Chouji's face, it wasn't Ino. And if it were Naruto, I would have been crushed to death by that little hug monster already.

So, naturally, I asked, "Who?"

Chouji smirked that stupid sly grin that he always did when he knew something I didn't, "Go look and thank me for waking you up later."

"Hmph," I huffed as I clumsily raised myself to my feet and waltzed past him, my pajama bottoms sagged slightly and dragged on the floor as I walked through the living room and up to the door. I swear, if this was Ino again, I was going to kick her in the shins and slam the door in her face.

I muffled a tiresome yawn as I reached down to the doorknob and turned it, granting me access to the bright outside world and to the person who was standing directly in front of it.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty. Did your prince come and kiss you awake?"

My heart jumped, "Temari?!"

Temari stood in front of me, arms crossed, wearing torn jeans with a rock concert tshirt on and black converse. Although it was a tshirt, it flowed nicely with her curves and was a v-neck, revealing a small amount of cleavage. I quickly looked up from her chest before she noticed me staring for too long.

She barely reacted to my surprise to see her, but rather grimaced and replied with, "You smell like a toilet."

I felt my face flush, "I've been sleeping all day, what would you expect?" I bit back defensively.

She held back a chuckle, "Do you…uh…sweat a lot when you sleep or something?"

"No!" I defended back, "I mean, uh-"

"Why are you sleeping so late, anyway?" Temari interrupted almost in a scolding tone, "Its one o'clock, you plan on sleeping your entire life away?"

I shoved my hands in the pockets of my plaid pajama pants, "Why are you even here?"

She seemed a bit off guard by my straightforward question, but shrugged it off and sarcastically replied with, "Because I just couldn't wait to see you again." She batted her eyelashes for extra sarcastic effect.

I ignored it, "How did you even know this is where I'm living right now?"

She shrugged as she placed her own hands in her jeans, "I asked Gaara to give me the address that is on file for Chow-"

"Chouji," I corrected.

"Bless you," She remarked back as if I had sneezed. "Anyway, I asked Gaara to give me Chow's address since I knew you were living with him until you get your balls back from your cheating whore girlfriend. Put it in the GPS, and here I am." She smiled as if she had accomplished something important.

I decided to disregard the comment about my balls, and brought up the more important matter, "You got Chouji's address from Gaara-"

"Chouji?" She questioned.

I rolled my eyes, "Chow," She nodded as if she understood who I was talking about now, "Isn't it illegal for him to give away personal information like that? I'm pretty sure that stuff is supposed to be confidential. Actually, I'm positive it is."

She stepped closer to me, giving me a daring look with a crooked smile that oddly made her look a bit frightening, "You gonna turn me in?"

"Well, no-"

"You gonna turn Gaara in?"

"Of course not-"

"Then don't worry about it," She stepped back as resumed her previous stature of unemotional facial expression and hands tucked in her pockets, "Rather, you should feel flattered. I've never gone this far to look for anyone. Don't ruin the moment by being a goody goody."

I scoffed at her, "If you've never gone this far too look for anyone, why did you look for me?"

That seemed to have stopped her for a moment, and it oddly seemed as if she were pondering what to say next. She had to have had a reason for looking for me right? As far as I knew, she kind of saw me as a needy loser who just kept digging a bigger grave for himself. Maybe she really was coming after me to get her shirt and heels replaced?

But her reply was actually very unexpected.

"If theres one thing I know about you, from the thousands of times you told me that pitiful drunken night, its that you like pizza rolls and or pizza." She said this flatly.

I shrugged, obviously missing the point. "Alright? You had to hunt me down to tell me what I already know?"

"Don't get snippy, I wasn't finished," She narrowed her eyes at me impatiently, "The reason I came to find you, was because I wanted to take you to this really awesome pizza place on the corner of Monroe Avenue. Seriously, I passed by it this morning during my jog, and it smelt awesome. And they just so happen to be having a sale today, buy one, get one free. It made me think that you would probably like it there, if you haven't been already."

I was stuck. I really didn't know how to respond back. Why was she inviting me out? The gesture was so sudden and unexpected…why was she going to such lengths to take me to a dumb pizza place?

I couldn't stand it, I had to ask. "Why?"

The question was so simple, yet it seemed to have slightly surprised her. She shrugged as her eyes averted to the ground, almost as if she were…embarrassed?

"I just said that I knew you liked pizza, so I figured you might want to go get some?" She still did not make eye contact as she tried to play cool, "I also know you've kind of been going through hell these past few days, so….I figured you might want to get out and not mope around in your own tear soaked pity party all day?"

I, once again, did not know exactly how to respond to her sudden and unexpected concern. Why was she being nice to me? We still didn't know each other very well, and the last time we went to get coffee was just because we had run into each other by coincidence. So what was her true intention of purposely inviting me out this time?

Of course, she may just feel pity for me. Being as we are just a little more than strangers to one another, she already knows far too much about my personal life. Perhaps she really was just trying to be nice…

Rather than verbally responding, I just nodded slowly.

She oddly perked up a little bit, "You're game for it?"

"Uh, sure," I confirmed, "But I still don't have a way to get to my money…"

She shook her head, "I'll get it this time, since technically I am the one inviting you. Don't worry about it."

I frowned, "I can't accept that. You've already done enough for me-"

"Don't make this a big deal," Temari butted in before I could finish, "Its pizza, not a kidney. Its nothing."

I sighed, fighting the urge to object deep within me. "Fine. You win."

She smiled back, "I always do," she smirked a crooked smile that made a smile of my own form at the corners of my mouth. Although she was kind of annoying, she was…pretty alright. She was kind of cool, in a way.

I shook myself from drifting, "What time are we going?"

"Now," Temari replied as she forcedly shoved me into the door frame and walked past me into the house, "Go get a shower and put some clothes on. I'll wait." Before I could reply with anything or object, she was already sitting on Chouji's worn couch and flipping through channels on the TV with the remote.

Chouji stepped into the living room from the kitchen, with a cereal bar hanging out of the side of his mouth, as he glanced at me, clearly not expecting her to have come inside. I just gave him a subtle shrug in return. What did he want me to say?

He swallowed a big mouthful of granola and took the bar out of his mouth, "Big plans today?" His eyes shifted from Temari to me.

"We're going out to grab some pizza," Temari spoke casually, "You want to tag along?" She didn't look at him as she continued channel surfing.

Chouji, for a moment, lit up at the fact that a beautiful woman like Temari invited him out with us. It almost seemed as if he were going to say yes, until he looked at me, then back to Temari, then to me again and a sly grin formed at the corners of his thin lips.

"No, uh, I've got stuff to do," It was clearly a lie as he stepped forward and purposely bumped me in the shoulder, "But I'm sure you two will have _fun _without me." He turned his back slightly to Temari and gave me a big wink. I rolled my eyes; Of course that's what he would think.

"Whatever, that's cool," Temari finally looked up at us, "You'd better go get that shower. I'm starving from my run earlier."

"Yeah, yeah," I played her off as I walked around the couch and towards the bathroom, "So, you're just going to sit here while I'm in there?"

"Problem?" Temari raised a brow as she shifted her head towards my direction.

"No, it's fine, I just-"

"Good, now hurry up!" Temari interrupted me in a rush. I breathed loudly at her as I walked in the bathroom, which earned a muffled snort in response.

I ran the water to get it hot as I peeled off my clothes-she was right, I did sweat a lot-and jumped in the shower as soon as the temperature was good enough. I quickly lathered shampoo in my long, wet black hair that draped over my shoulders; Which reminded me that I needed to get a haircut soon. As soon as I was done washing my hair, I quickly ran some body wash that smelt like some kind of manly spice. I wasn't particularly fond of it, but I always wore it because Ino enjoyed it. It was just out of habit that I used that particular body wash.

The shower took me about five minutes maximum, although it usually took me longer. Im not sure why I was rushing, I usually went at my own pace, even if I was being rushed by someone else. For some reason, I felt a strange feeling about going out with Temari. And what confused me even more, was that it was a…good feeling. Like I was…excited? I wasn't really sure how to explain it. Im not sure if excitement was the right word to describe it or not, it just felt odd that I was feeling something like this, considering the hell I had been through recently. All I had been feeling recently was sadness and a dark depression. It was weird that I was feeling something other than that usual feeling. And for something as little as going to get pizza? But…maybe it wasn't the pizza I was looking forward to. Maybe it was actually spending time with someone who seemed to be kind of a chill and cool person?

I wasn't sure. I shook it off before I could think too deeply into it.

As soon as I was ready, I wrapped my towel around my shivering naked body-the end of the shower is always the worst because all that cold air surrounds you like you're in the middle of the North Pole-and quickly hopped from the bathroom to the bedroom before Temari could see me from the living room. That would make for a hell of an awkward situation.

I had picked out a plain black tshirt, I figured I didn't have to dress to impress since Temari seemed to be dressed pretty casually, and I was in the middle of picking out some jeans with the least amount of stains on them when I heard my bedroom door shut behind me.

I turned around to see Chouji standing in front of the door with that stupid grin still plastered on his face.

"Change your mind about coming with us?" I asked, of course I wasn't stupid enough to believe that was the reason he had come in.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to ruin your date," Chouji remarked with an edgy, confident tone.

I sighed, "Its not a date," I replied.

"Uh huh," He played along, "A girl just basically tracked you down and invited you to go get pizza because she just wanted to say hi," He rolled his eyes as he chuckled to himself.

"How did you know she tracked me down?"

"I was in the kitchen, listening the whole time of course," Chouji stated as if eavesdropping was completely acceptable.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "Keep out of this, Choj."

"I'm not getting into anything," He held his hands up as if he were surrendering, but he kept smiling, "I'm just saying, let loose a little. This girl seems super cool. Enjoy your time with her."

"Its not like that, Chouji," I shook my head, "It can't be like that right now. Im not over Ino…im not ready for anything like that."

"Fuck Ino!" Chouji furrowed his eyebrows angrily as he responded, "Don't let her ruin something that could be good for you. She certainly didn't waste any time jumping over to Sasuke-"

"I really don't want to get into this right now," I interrupted Chouji before he could finish, "Just…please don't put any pressure on this, Choj. We're just getting pizza. I can't take anymore pressure right now."

Chouji didn't respond for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "Fine. But don't completely disregard it. Do what you want, have fun. That's all I'm saying."

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Alright. Now get out, I gotta get dressed."

* * *

After I had gotten dressed and was completely ready, Temari and I left in her car and got to the pizza place about twenty minutes later. We didn't really talk about anything particular in the car ride, just mostly idle chitchat. I knew Chouji was just trying to help me move on and be there for me, but thanks to him, I was completely self conscious about our entire conversation. I didn't want to give her any indication that I was interested in anything other than going out to get pizza, and likewise, she didn't give me any indication she wanted more either.

I just shrugged it off and tried to prevent myself from thinking anymore about it. Chouji had me stressing out over nothing. I was sure that Temari didn't mean anything by her invitation other than having a good time.

We got to the pizza place, which was called Sauce and Mushroom pizza. I had heard of it before, but had never gone. I had always wanted to go, but Ino never wanted to go with me. She wasn't really a pizza person; She was more into pastas. Fuck pastas.

We were seated almost as soon as we got into the shop. There were not too many people in the shop, but Temari was right about it smelling good. My mouth was watering as soon as I walked through the front door.

After the waitress brought Temari and I some tea, we both decided to order a large cheese and pepperoni pizza. Very basic, I usually liked more on my pizzas, but I didn't want to complicate anything on her since she was kind enough to pay for me…_again_.

We had gone a couple moments without saying anything, before Temari randomly asked, "Do you have any family around here?"

It caught me off guard at first, "What?"

"Family," she repeated as she took a sip of her tea, "Got any around here? In the city?"

I shook my head, "No, I don't have any siblings, and my mom lives in the country along a river. She likes it out there, its quiet and peaceful. Just her. My father actually died of cancer when I was a teenager. I sometimes go there to visit for a weekend or so. Its nice to get away from all the city life sometimes."

Temari frowned, "I'm sorry about your father."

"It's fine...couldn't have been avoided...miss him like hell though." My voice got quieter.

She noticed my mood starting to shift, so she quickly said, "That's a big change," Temari responded, "Going from a quiet country life to the city. What made you want to move here?"

"Business, mostly. As soon as I got my job, I moved out here into an apartment. Then I met Ino at a local bar, where she was my waitress a few times. She was working two jobs to make money for school, and after I had been to the same bar a few times, I finally manned up enough to ask her out. We dated soon after that, and well, you know the rest."

Temari sighed as she nodded, staring into her teacup. "It sucks. I know what its like to be cheated on. Hell, I guess that's why I feel so bad for you."

That caught my attention. I was surprised she had been so forward. "Really?"

She pursed her lips, "I moved here from another country to be with my ex boyfriend. I met him through my brother, Kankuro as I was visiting one summer, and we hit it off. We called and texted, pretty much did everything a long distance couple did. Then, he finally asked me to leave and move in with him. He advertised it like it was the best thing in the world," She shook her head as she laughed at herself, obviously feeling regret of her choice. "I would be close to my brothers, since they already lived here, and I would be with him. 'Forever', he said. Too bad some forevers are short lived."

I frowned as I looked down to my own teacup and swirled it around in my hand, "What was his name?" I boldly asked.

She sighed, "Sasori," Her eyes averted from me, "I was a dumb girl who got in a lot of trouble because of him. My drinking started after I met him. I wish I could go back sometimes, stop myself from ever even meeting him, but even if I could, I wouldn't change it."

I looked up at her, her dark eyes met mine in a very stern way, "Why wouldn't you? If you could change how he hurt you, why wouldn't you change it?"

She didn't reply for a moment, a very long moment as if she were thinking of how to respond to the question, then she shrugged as she picked up her teacup, "If I changed it, I wouldn't be who I am now."

I felt a feeling of envy wash over me from her statement. I was…jealous. I was jealous that she had overcome such a hardship, although I still did not know the details of her past with this Sasori guy. I envied her because she was so strong. She was the most independent woman I had ever met in my life, even more independent than my own mother. Up until Ino, I had considered myself to be extremely independent, but ever since I found her with Sasuke, I had felt like nothing more than a paper bag in the wind. I was jealous that she had overcome her hardship and became this new woman in front of me. I wanted to be strong. I wanted…to be like her.

I opened my mouth to tell her exactly that, that I was jealous of her and to ask her how she overcame her heartbreak, when I was interrupted by a voice behind me that made my heart shatter inside my chest.

"Shikamaru?" The high pitched, almost squealing voice, pierced my ears behind me.

I already knew who it was without even turning around, but I did so anyway.

Ino was standing behind my chair, right hand firmly wrapped inside Sasuke Uchiha's. She was wearing a blue dress with black leggings and boots, her long honey blond hair was down and resting on her shoulders as her blue eyes pierced themselves into my dark ones. Sasuke simply stood over me, his dark eyes were unemotional as it seemed as they were glaring down at me. His pale face was completely blank.

Speak of the damn devil, and _she _shall appear.

"I really didn't expect to see you here," Ino spoke after the awkward moment of silence, "I figured you would be working or something."

"Gaara didn't need me today," I replied stiffly. "Thought you didn't care for trying this place?"

"Sasuke wanted to try it, so I figured we would. Besides, the pizza here looks delicious." She replied with a smile.

"That's funny," I responded with a sarcastic smile of my own, "When you were with me, you didn't like pizza."

"Um…" She oddly trailed off as her eyes began to wonder, then she quickly changed the subject before it could be pressed further, "Well…how are you doing?"

I clenched my teeth and felt my blood start to boil just from the pure simplicity of her dumbass question, "How do you think I'm doing? It is, after all, kind of hard to do anything without a wallet."

Her face flushed a light pink and I noticed her hand twitch slightly in Sasuke's. Sasuke subtly scoffed at me.

"Why are we even talking to him?" Sasuke blankly stated as his eyes peered to Ino beside him, "We could have just avoided this entire awkward situation."

Ino glared at him from the corner of her eye, "Because I don't feel like we should have to avoid each other. I think we can all come to good terms and be civil towards one another."

"Really?" I asked, in complete disbelief at her statement, "You think that we can all just be friends and frolic into the fucking sunset?"

"Back off," Sasuke replied before Ino could say anything, "There isn't a reason to make this any worse than it already is."

"I suppose this is your, ahem, friend?" Ino completely changed the subject before I could even consider jumping out of my chair and laying my fist into Sasuke's face. She had her eyebrow raised as she looked at Temari, who I had almost completely forgotten was there.

I shifted to look at Temari, who was simply reclining back in her chair with her arms crossed and an almost badass looking smirk plastered across her face. Ino subtly grimaced as she looking Temari up and down, taking in her attire which was obviously very different from Ino's. Ino always believed in "dress to impress" and honestly did not own one single tshirt. She always believed they looked "trashy".

"Sakura had mentioned you had a new…_friend_," she said the word friend as if it were plagued, "I'm Ino…who are you?"

"Tell me, Ino," Temari replied as she leaned forward from her reclined position and rested her elbows on the table, "Do you like the color of your eyes?"

Temari did not react when she earned three very confused expressions back from her question. It was definitely an odd question to ask, wasn't it? I glanced at Ino, who looked very puzzled.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"Did I stutter?" Temari narrowed her eyes as her tone suddenly became a bit darker, "Do you like your eye color? Do I need to repeat it again?"

Ino looked up at Sasuke, then back to her and scoffed, "Um, okay, yes? I do like my eye color, they are the famous blue eyes that belong to the Yamanka family," she replied as if she were proud of her family line and the good looks she had inherited from it.

Temari suddenly smiled, which was almost in a terrifying manner, and it made a chill run through me for an odd reason. "Well, Ino, if you like those eyes so much, I suggest that you never look me up and down like that again. Otherwise, I will claw out those eyes you are so proud of from your pretty little face," She finished this statement with a bit of charm at the end. I had to physically cover my mouth to hide my jaw dropping.

I looked up, to see Ino's jaw hung wide open. She was undoubtedly surprised, like the rest of us were, that Temari had subtly and calmly just threatened her. Even Sasuke seemed to have been caught off guard from the calmness of her dark words.

Ino didn't respond for a minute, then finally mustered up enough breath to say, "Who the hell is she, Shikamaru?!"

"I'm Temari," Temari rose from her chair as she reached across the table to grab my wrist, indicating for me to stand up with her. I did so without any objections. "You would do well to remember the name." Temari finished as she firmly wrapped her fingers around my arm, threw some cash that was in her pocket onto the table, and began leading me out of the shop.

I couldn't help but smile as I looked back to see Ino in complete disbelief of what had just happened.


	7. Chapter 7

Temari's hands were gripping the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles were turning white. She stared straight ahead as she was going an unknown miles per hour-honestly, I as afraid to look because I knew it may be somewhere in the eighty to ninety range-and I sat awkwardly in the passengers seat in silence. I didn't know where we were going and frankly, I didn't care either. I was more focused on the fact that I might die today from her speeding.

"You dated her?" Temari finally spoke in an angry tone, "I mean, really? _Her_?"

The way she put emphasis on _her _was in disgust. "Yeah, she's the fantastic ex I keep talking about. I'm glad you had the pleasure of meeting her." By the glare she shot me after my statement, I quickly gathered that right now may not be the best time for my sarcasm.

She shifted her eyes back to the road, "I mean, honestly, I was expecting her to be some sort of preppy drama queen, but I had no idea you were talking about the queen bee," She cut a quick right turn on a back road that made my stomach drop and my hands cling to the seat.

"Uh, yeah, she's something," I managed to get out as I stared out the window at the trees and houses that flew behind us in a flash, "Um, do you mind slowing down a bit?"

"I hate girls like her," Temari barked, ignoring my request, "Always the popular ones. Every girl wants to be her, every guy wants to date her, so she thinks she can treat people however she wants. Daddy bought her everything, she was Mommy's pride and joy. It makes me fucking sick." She gritted her teeth as she commented the last part.

I would have told her she was wrong about Ino…if she hadn't had been one hundred percent accurate. Ino was always the apple of dads eye. Every girl wanted a pony at some point when they were small, and Ino's father was the one to actually go out and buy her one. Mom lived vicariously through Ino. She entered her in every pageant, took her to every dance class and sat front row at every recital, framed her perfect report cards. Ino was a spoiled brat and she always had been. Not many people got to live as an actual princess like Ino Yamanaka.

"You know what I had when I was growing up?" Temari threw a question at me while spinning her steering wheel like her car was a pirate ship, "My brothers. Gaara and Kankuro, they were all I had. My mom died after Gaara was born and my dad didn't give a shit about us. I practically raised my brothers myself. Why do perfect little princesses get to walk around, acting like the world is theirs, when they didn't even work for it?"

I frowned as Temari slightly choked on the last bit of her statement. She looked as if she thought I hadn't heard it, but I did. I pretended not to notice so she wouldn't get embarrassed.

"Why don't you stop the car?" I asked, staring directly at the side of Temari's face. She didn't look at me, but I could feel her slowing down just a little bit.

"Why?" She demanded, staring straight ahead.

"Didn't they tell you when you got your license that you're not supposed to drive when your upset?" I said the first thing that popped into my head, "Let's not get pulled over. That would suck."

Temari looked as if she were contemplating it for a moment, then finally sighed, and began slowing down quickly. This made my heart start to fall back into my chest from my throat.

We stopped on the corner of a street in front of a house that had a vacancy sign on it. I did not recognize the street and tried to ignore the fact that I had absolutely no idea where we were. Rather, I just looked over at Temari, who seemed to have calmed down just a tad. She turned her face to look at me.

"Sorry, I usually don't drive like a bat out of hell," She apologized.

I shook my head, "It's fine. Like I said, I'm sorry you had to deal with her."

Temari sighed, "I just got so angry when she looked me up and down. Looked at me like I was so far below her. I can't stand being treated like I'm lesser than someone."

I leaned back in the leather chair and crossed my arms, "I mean, I get it. It's not a stupid thing to get angry over."

"I just can't believe you dated her. Out of all people, her." Temari remarked, but had a subtle hint of judgment in her tone.

I raised a brow at her, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Temari replied to my look with a smirk, "It means that she is the type to cry for days about breaking a nail, and you're a grumpy old man."

"What! I am not a grumpy old man!" I argued back with my eyebrows furrowed.

She just chuckled at my agitation, "You are totally an old man. You are literally scowling every time I see you."

"I do not scowl!"

"You are always scowling," Temari giggled again, "One hundred percent of the time, you are scowling."

I turned my face away from her, ignoring the fact that it was very possible that I was scowling at that exact moment. "Whatever you say," I pouted. Almost exactly like an old man.

Temari chuckled for a minute while I was pouting, and then grew quiet. I turned to look at her and she seemed to have had an unexplainable expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" I asked, unfolding my arms.

She shook her head, "Nothing. I was just thinking that we went through all the trouble to go to that pizza place, and we didn't even eat the pizza," she added a quiet huff as she spoke, "I'm actually kind of annoyed with myself that I paid for a meal we didn't even get to enjoy."

I shrugged, "Don't feel bad. I probably would have walked out too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah,"

"Hm," Temari replied as she looked back out the front window. "Well, alright. I guess since we both had our daily dose of drama, you want me to take you back home?"

I sat and thought about it for a minute before I answered her. Of course, anyone who knew me well, knew I was an introvert. I fit the description to a T. I hated drama and loved to be by myself, so it was very tempting to just answer 'yes' to her question, go home, and hide in my room with the lights turned off and the door locked. However, something was tugging at me. I didn't really what it was until I kept thinking about it, and I quickly found out that it was guilt. What the hell did I feel guilty about? It was true, I did feel guilty that Temari had gotten into an altercation with my stupid ex girl friend and her boy toy, but it was something else that bothered me. I quickly realized that I felt guilty because Temari had gone through all the trouble of finding me-some may argue stalking, but I didn't like to use labels-and volunteering to take me to get pizza, knowing that it was my favorite. She knew that I had been having a rough time and attempted to make me feel better. Of course, it was ruined because of my previously mentioned bitchy ex, but just because that outing was ruined, didn't mean we had to end it.

I glanced at her, looking into her dark eyes intently, and said softly, "We don't have to call it a day yet, if you don't want to."

Temari's eyes brightened in an odd way, "What?" she asked, like she was trying to confrim what I had just said, "You still want to hang out?"

I felt my face start to get hot, although I wasn't sure why. "Um, I mean, it doesn't matter either way, its whatever you want to do…" I trailed off, trying to find a way to redeem myself. "Honestly, I don't even know where we are."

Temari looked away from my face and turned her head around to examine our surroundings. "Hm," She said in almost a whisper, but I had caught it.

"What?"

She turned and gave my a sly smirk, "I don't really know where we are either."

"S-Seriously?" I replied back trying not to let my tone reflect my slight frustration. Great. First we were close to dying, and now we were lost.

"Yeah, seriously, I was just driving. I wasn't really paying attention." Temari replied as she turned the key to shut off her car.

I sighed and covered my eyes with the inside of my elbow. "We're lost. Great."

Temari reached over and smacked me in the chest, which actually caught me off guard and knocked the breath out of me. I moved my arm to look at her like she was insane.

"Don't be a baby," she rolled her eyes at me, "That's why there's this nice, cool, new thing called a GPS. But you wouldn't know, I guess, since you're an old man."

"Whatever," I disregarded her comment, "Turn yours on, then. My battery is going to die soon."

She reached down and picked her phone up from her lap, poked around on the touch screen and typed something into what I assumed was the GPS mapping. Then she reached over, turned her car back on without saying a word, and started to drive off down the road again. She held her phone in her right hand as she steered her steering wheel with her left.

"Want me to hold that?" I asked, holding my hand open, palm up. Good Lord her driving was terrifying.

"I can do it," Temari stiffly replied back.

"Can you do it without killing us?" I challenged her with narrowed eyes.

"Please," She pursed her lips as she looked at the lit screen, "I've been multitasking since you were in diapers, kid."

"Oh, really? Just how old are you then?" I asked, trying to be sarcastic, but also truly curious of how old she really was. She never told me. I had assumed she was my age or younger, she did not look to be any older to me. But that didn't necessarily mean anything, since I had always believed that Naruto looked like he was a teenager rather than a twenty five year old man.

"Don't you know you're not supposed to ask a woman how old she is?" Temari glared at me out of the corner of her eye.

"That saying is only for women who are insecure about their age," I remarked. "You don't strike me as the insecure type. Besides, you can't be older than me."

"How old are you?" Temari asked, seeming to be as curious about my age as I was about hers.

"Twenty five," I stated flatly.

She smirked as she stared ahead on the road, continuing to drive with one hand. "Well, hate to tell you this, but you're wrong." She made a right turn, once again steering her wheel a little too fast for my liking, but I didn't say anything. "Actually, I don't hate to tell you that. I like being right."

"You're lying," I shook my head in denial, "How old are you then?"

She smiled as she shot a quick glance at me, "Twenty-eight."

"You're three years older than me?" I asked, in genuine surprise. I had thought she may have been the same age, or possibly even younger. Not that twenty-eight was older by any means, but I would have never guessed she was at least three years older than me. "You don't look it," I commented.

"Tell me that when I'm forty," She chuckled softly, "I'd like to hear that more, then."

I smiled and turned back to face the road. I hadn't even realized we had gotten back on the main roads. "So, are you taking me home?" I questioned, knowing that we kind of just let that subject go. I assumed the answer was yes, but was once again caught slightly off guard when she shook her head.

"You said you still wanted to hang out, right?" Temari stated, placing her phone back into her lap as if she did not need it anymore.

I shrugged, "I mean, if you want to go somewhere else, I'm up for it. But where are we going?"

"Have you ever been to a quarry?" Temari asked, pressing her foot against the brakes as we slowly approached the front of a line at a red light.

I shook my head, "There isn't any around here,"

"Wrong again," she replied with amusement, "You're lucky that you're good looking enough to rely on appearance, because if you were relying on your brains, you'd be screwed."

I felt my cheeks flush. Did she really just call me 'good looking'? I quickly shook it off. It was probably just part of her insult and I shouldn't take it to heart. Little did she know that I had an IQ of over two hundred, not that many people were completely aware of it. I was rather lazy and people usually described me with that trait rather than my smart one.

"You're saying you know where a quarry is?" I brought the subject back where it should be.

"The best one," Temari smiled as she hit the gas pedal once the red light turned green, "Are you up for a little adventure?"

I shrugged. It wasn't like I was doing anything else today. "Why not?" I commented.

"Good, because its illegal," She added so quickly that I almost didn't catch it.

I sat up straight in my chair, "What did you just say?"

"What?"

"You said something was illegal," I insisted.

"Oh, yeah, the quarry isn't open to the public. We'll have to trespass to get to it."

I furrowed my eyebrows and frowned, "Hell no, we are _not_ trespassing!"

She shot me that familiar annoyed look I was starting to get used to, "You are such a baby! I've been there hundreds of times on my own and have never been caught. Seriously, you'll be fine if you suck it up and be a man."

I glared at her, "Why is it not open to the public?" I demanded. There had to be a good reason it was closed off. Maybe it had shark infested waters or deadly mountain lions. No way I was getting mixed up in any of that.

"Its closed because its not the safest thing in the world," Temari answered honestly, "But seriously, if you just watch your step and don't run around like a chicken with their head cut off, you'll be fine."

I grimaced at her analogy. I wanted to object, but what could I do? Its not like I could exactly turn her car around and force her to drive me home. Well, maybe I could _try_, but I'd probably lose.

I stayed silent as we drove for an unknown number of minutes, I finally stopped keeping track. I felt my heart beat a little faster every time we made a turn onto unknown territory. We were going to get arrested in some foreign city or country or something and we would be without any way of getting home. I felt myself start to sweat.

Then I took a deep breath and told myself to relax. I made myself realize that I was being dramatic. Temari was right. I was being a baby.

We drove until we reached an empty parking lot where some building had obviously been torn down. She parked her car, slinging me into the door as she did so, and stopped the car eagerly. She quickly jumped out and ran to the end of the parking lot, where a deep, lush green forest reached to the curb of the lot. I got out of the car, slamming my door shut, and quickly followed her. I heard her car beep loudly behind me, indicating that she had locked it.

Once I reached her, she turned to me and smiled. "We've got to hike in the woods for a while, but trust me, I know where I'm going, so just follow me."

I sighed and just nodded, not wanting to give her any other reason to insult my masculinity.

We thrust ourselves into the woods and I followed Temari swiftly, just like she told me to. We stepped over logs, sticks, plants and other things like rocks while dodging hanging vines. I grimaced as I felt myself walk into a cobweb, but decided not to outwardly complain about it. Temari didn't seem to notice me flailing my arms around like an idiot as she continued to lead me forward. This stupid forest was annoyingly troublesome.

Finally after about ten minutes of nonstop walking and tree dodging, we came across an old green fence, so old that the green paint had been chipped and almost nonexistent. I thought it was odd that there was a fence in the middle of the woods, but realized it had purposely been built to keep people away from whatever was on the other side of it. Signs hung from the fence reading:

"**Turn around**" and "**Do not enter, trespassing ahead**"

Before I could even make a comment about the signs, I looked over to see Temari climbing over the waist high fence. Once she planted herself on the ground, she turned around and looked at me with a smile. "C'mon, we're almost there." Excitement filled her eager eyes.

Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same for my own. I looked around, oddly feeling like we were being watched, before I stepped forward to the fence. I stopped before jumping over it and looked at Temari.

"What?" Temari asked blandly.

"Are you sure we won't get caught?" I asked as I looked past her to the trespassing grounds.

Temari groaned, "We might if you don't hurry your ass up, negative Nancy."

I narrowed my eyes at her, "I'm not being negative, I just don't feel like spending the night in jail-"

"Oh my god, are you the girl or am I?" Temari interrupted with her ridiculous remark. She was such a fucking smartass.

"Shut up, I'm coming," I bit back as I placed my foot on the bottom plane and climbed over effortlessly. Temari shot me another devious smirk before she turned around and started jogging off, me on her heels to stay close to her.

It took about three minutes from the fence to approach a small opening that was shining through the woods. Once it was within eyesight, Temari halted suddenly, causing me to practically fall over to keep myself from running into her. She turned around and eyed me, fully aware that I had almost taken her down, but didn't say anything about it.

Instead she said, "The quarry is through this opening. Like I said, it's a bit rocky, so just be careful where you step. It would be a pain in my ass if I had to jump in the water to save you from drowning."

"You're hilarious," I rolled my eyes.

Temari turned on her heels and pushed back the leafy opening. She walked through it without hesitating, so I just sighed and did the same right behind her. _Don't be a negative Natalie, or whatever the hell she said a minute ago_, I thought to myself. I didn't consider myself to ever be a goody two shoes, but comparing myself to Temari made me really start to feel like I was definitely lame. I almost started to feel myself becoming envious of how adventurous and fearless Temari was, but lost my complete train of thought once we stepped in far enough to see the quarry below.

It was just as beautiful as Temari had said, but even her words didn't do it justice. We stood on a gray granite cliff, overlooking a massive sea water blue lake below us. We had to at least be two hundred feet above it, and looking down over the edge made my stomach turn. Now I knew why she had emphasized watch your step, and why this place was closed to the public. It was surrounded in an almost perfect circle by the granite cliffs and I could only imagine how deep the water must have been.

Temari must have seen me with my jaw dropped, because she nudged me in the shoulder, which made me jump. "Told you it was something, didn't I?"

"It's amazing," I replied as I absently backed a few steps away from the edge, "How did you know this was back here? Do a lot of people know about it?"

She shrugged, "Not that I'm aware of. I just found it when I was hiking around here a year or so ago. I didn't tell anyone about it. It's kind of my special place to go when I'm stressed out."

I stared at her timidly, "Why'd you tell me about it, then?"

My question must have been awkward for her, because she shifted her eyes away from me and I could have sworn I saw her cheeks flush a little, "Honestly…I'm not really sure. I just did."

It was clear that I had embarrassed her and I started to feel my own face get a little warm as well. I opened my mouth to say something to destroy the awkward tension that suddenly arose out of nowhere, when Temari quickly perked up. It was as if she had completely dropped the matter.

"Want to go down by the dock? The water is even more gorgeous up close." She pointed down towards the lake and in the very corner of one of the granite cliffs, sat a small brown dock that sat right above the water. Before I could even answer her, she was jogging off down the granite trail of the cliff, leaving me no other choice but to follow her.

The trail was long, but it was downhill, so it was easy to jog down it without getting winded. Once we reached the bottom, I continued to follow her through another small patch of wooded area, until we emerged on the other side only a few feet away from the dock.

We both walked onto the dock, Temari in front of me. She sat down at the end of it without saying a word and sighed, gazing out across the water. She was right, it was much prettier up close. I was perfectly comfortable with standing above her, but was surprised when she looked up at me. Her reflection danced on the water below us.

"Have a seat," she gestured beside her, "I don't have cooties, you know."

I didn't respond with anything but a smirk as I knelt down next to her and threw me legs over the edge of the dock next to hers. I slightly kicked at the water, getting the tip of my shoes wet, but I didn't mind. It was even more beautiful sitting in front of it.

However, my attention was quickly drawn away from the water, when I was able to smell Temari's perfume next to me. I hadn't even been able to smell while we were in the car, but now, sitting so close to her that our elbows were touching, I could smell that it was a nice lavender scent with something else seemingly mixed into it. I don't know what it was, and I had never smelt that specific scent before, but it was an absolutely wonderful aroma.

"I love coming here," Temari said softly, bringing my attention away from the amazing smelling substance, "It's so peaceful. Isn't it?"

I nodded, "Yeah, it is. I never knew anything like this existed here."

She turned and smiled at me, "It's nice seeing your face do something else," She said almost in a whisper.

I raised a brow at her, "What do you mean?"

She smirked and a small chuckle followed as she nudged my elbow with hers, "You know, that scowling you're always doing. Its nice to see that your face isn't stuck that way after all."

I just responded with a simple, 'humph' at her as I nudged her back harder without even thinking about it.

Then suddenly, before I could even register what was going on to stop it, she was gone. A loud splash echoed in the empty quarry, and water attacked me from the front as Temari fell completely into the lake. The only thing left in her spot was a puddle of water. The water rippled at the newly broken surface.

I had just fucking pushed her in.

I jumped up as fast as I could and leaned over the water, feeling my heart jump into my throat as I searched frantically for Temari.

"Oh my god, oh my god," I openly voiced as I bent down and threw my hand into the water, searching for anything of Temari's to grab a hold of. When I couldn't feel anything, I withdrew my hand out of the water and yelled in a panic, "Temari!"

It was only when I watched Temari's wet, blond head break the surface of the water a foot away from me that I let go of my breath I was holding. However, I was ready to run with my tail inbetween my legs when Temari shot me the death look of all death looks when she opened her mascara running eyes.

It was silent for a moment, then I finally cried out in almost a whimper, "Temari!-"

"You IDIOT!" She beat me to the punch as her face seemed to turn a slight shade of purple, "Why did you push me in the fucking water?! Its cold as hell in here!"

"I'm so sorry!" I immediately began apologizing. My face was on fire and I could _feel_ the shade of red on my usually pale cheeks. "I really did not mean to push you that hard, oh my god, I am so sorry!"

Temari didn't respond verbally, but rather with a growl from deep in her throat that vaguely resembled a man eating beast. "Whatever! Just help me get the hell out of here!"

I nodded quickly and rushed to bend down on my knees, thrusting my hand into the water as she began swimming towards me. I did not even want to imagine what she was going to do to me when she got out. Maybe she would crack my head against the hard granite, resulting in instant death. Maybe she would hold me down, steal my clothes, and push me into the freezing water butt naked, and I would get hypothermia and die. In any case, I was sure death was in my immediate future.

Once Temari had swam her way back to the dock and looked up to me with her black makeup fearfully running down her face, she clasped her hand so hard into my open palm that I could feel my fingers already begin to tingle.

"Don't fucking drop me," Temari threatened as her eyes resembled something slightly demonic.

I began pulling her up. "Temari, seriously I am so-"

I didn't get to finish that statement. Rather than pulling Temari back onto the dock, she had pulled all her weight against me as my hand was squished into hers. Before I could even react and grab onto something, my head had met face first with the already disturbed lake water. I felt Temari let go of my hand as I sunk down into the freezing water, clasping my hand over my open-screaming-mouth to prevent myself from choking on the water. I quickly began kicking my feet and extending my free arm to get myself to the surface, feeling my eyes burn from opening them in the abnormally cold lake.

It took me a few seconds to get back to the surface, and once I did, I felt like I had just escaped deaths grasp. I called out, I don't even remember what I said. I was kicking my feet to keep myself afloat as I quickly began rubbing my stinging eyes and inhaling as much precious oxygen as my lungs could hold.

"Oh my god, OH MY GOD-" I whimpered as I cracked one eye open, "This water…is fucking freezing!"

I was about to start swimming back to the dock when I remembered Temari. I quickly turned around behind me, quickly drawn to the familiar sound of Temari's chuckling. I looked at her, and every ounce of anger and fury that was present on her face just a minute ago was gone. She was smiling. And when she saw the reaction on my face, she started hysterically laughing.

Fury, is probably an accurate word to describe how I felt right then.

"What the hell?!" I yelled as I tried to keep myself afloat from drowning, "Was that all an act?! Were you really not mad at all?!"

Temari laughed and wiped either a tear or a drop of water from her eye, I wasn't sure which, "Of course I wasn't mad. Its just water, its not like I'm gonna melt." A big, fat grin spread across her face as she swam a few inches closer to me, "Besides, I know it was an accident."

I thought steam was going to come out of my ears, "Then why the hell did you pull me in?!" I asked through a shivering tone, grimacing as what felt like a fish swim against my leg.

Temari didn't answer for a moment, but rather swam to where she was close enough for me to audibly hear her whisper, "I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to _pull_ you that hard."

Her statement echoed in my head. She started laughing again, I assume because of my facial expression. Then, without even thinking twice about it, I splashed her. In the face. As hard as I could. It silenced her ridiculous laughter and caused her to cover her face with her hands, preparing to defend herself if I were to splash more at her. Once I didn't splash her again, she slowly turned back to me and started rubbing her eye that clearly had water in it.

I was fully aware I was scowling at her, but I didn't care, "Lets get out of here before we get sick," I said grimly as I started to turn around to swim away from her.

I should have known better.

Behind me, a giant wave surfed through the surface of the water, and tackled me right in the back of my head. The freezing water ran down my face and burned my eyes once more and I turned grouchily back around to face her. She was so annoying. So troublesome. So infuriating!

However, once I opened my eyes and saw her laughing, my annoyance seemed to have magically melted away. I don't know what stopped me, or what stunned me even, but I just couldn't stop looking at the way she smiled. Her smile was so bright as she laughed. Her eyes were closed and she had dimples that were clearly visible as her laughter echoed through my ears. Her laugh, her _genuine_ laugh, sounded like…bells. Like a those bells that kids run around with on the streets during festivals and parades. I don't know why I was just now noticing her smile. It was actually…beautiful.

"C'mon, old man, are you gonna give up that easily?" She laughed while splashing me unexpectedly again, "You're the one who started it, so finish it!"

I had every intention of just turning around and ignoring my invitation to that battle, until she swam closer to me while splashing me in the face with another wave of water. As I rubbed my irritated eyes, she laughed mockingly at me. She had done it. If I were to keep my dignity in tact, I would have to destroy her.

As she continued to laugh at me, I took that opportunity to attack. With both arms, I hurled two large waves of water towards her vulnerable face, feeling a grin curl at the corners of my mouth when she was surprised at my sudden attack. Then, the war really began.

Next thing I knew, we were in the midst of a vicious water battle. I wish I could accurately describe it in detail, but I was so busy splashing and trying to cover my eyes, that I don't really remember who hit who. All I remember is the cold water hitting me over and over again as I heard my attacks hit her too. And I remember…laughing. I mean, really laughing. Laughing to the point where I was almost wheezing. Of course, not my most attractive quality, but I didn't care. What concerned me more was that I couldn't remember the last time I had ever laughed that hard.

Finally, the splashing stopped. After I had caught my breath and opened my eyes, I looked to Temari to see if she had finally surrendered. However, when I looked her way, she wasn't there.

"Temari?" I asked as I searched around myself for her, but not seeing a hint of her anywhere. "Temari-"

A hand wrapped itself around my ankle. Tight.

Before I could even attempt to shake myself lose, I was being drug underwater. I quickly covered my open mouth and right as I was about to close my eyes from the stinging water invading my precious vision, I felt the hand let go of my ankle and swim up to meet my gaze. Temari looked at me with her eyes wide open, only a few inches away from me, and smiled that stupid devious smirk I had started to become accustomed to. Her hair flowed around her almost majestically while underwater. She had clearly lost her hair ties during our splash battle, thus releasing her sandy blond hair all around her. I had never seen her without her hair up before. And even underwater, it was honestly breathtaking.

I shook the thought out of my head as I watched her swim above me and hit the surface. I quickly followed her up, eager to get a breath of air that rudely been stolen away from me. Did she think this was over? I smirked as my head broke the surface. Oh, she hadn't seen anything yet.

She had gotten a head start of me and was swimming as quickly as she could back to the dock. She was smiling and laughing as she swam. She knew I was coming for her.

I quickly kicked my feet and shoveled my arms through the water, feeling myself practically glide through the water. Temari did not know that my mother happened to be a paranoid freak, and in fear of coming into the bathroom one day to see her son face down drowned in his bathwater, had made me take a ten week course of swimming lessons when I was five. This made me swim like I was born part fish.

Temari made it to the dock before I did and was starting to pull herself out of the water, to safety. Just as her left foot was about to pull itself out of the water, I lunged in the water, placing one hand on her knee and one on her thigh, while wrapping my arms around that one leg like I was holding onto dear life.

"SHIKAMARU!" Temari yelped, but was also gasping for air from laughing so hard, "NO! NO-"

But it was too late. I had dragged her back in and we were both floating aimlessly underwater. I had let go of her leg to swim back up to let out this hysterical laughter that was making my insides explode, but stopped when I felt Temari rise up next to me and wrap her arms around my neck. Instinctively, without even having a chance to think about it, I wrapped my arms around her waist. And for a moment, almost a slow motion moment, we were there. Under the beautiful blue water, staring at each other, huddled together in a natural and automatic embrace.

I couldn't explain what was going on or what I was feeling. At that moment, oddly, it didn't matter that Temari had threatened to gouge out Ino's eyes earlier that day. Or that I had walked in on the love of my life with another man a few weeks ago. All that mattered was that Temari's arms were around my neck and I was holding her against me. I don't know why that was all that mattered to me in that moment and I can't explain it. All I knew was that, even though my eyes were stinging from all the water that had made their ways into my sockets, I didn't want to close my eyes. I didn't want to stop looking at her.

Finally, for obvious breathing reasons, we surfaced together. Her arms remained around my neck as our heads flew above water, immediately breathing in the air of the beautiful nature around us. Almost as quickly as it had happened, Temari removed her arms from around my neck. I hurriedly moved my hands away from her waist. And, almost like we had called an unspoken truce, we turned to pull ourselves up on the dock.

We were obviously drenched and my clothes were heavy as I felt myself fall back on the dock, completely exhausted and panting. Temari fell down next to me, her panting matching mine along with her smile. We both looked at the sky that we hadn't even noticed was beginning to turn that orangish-red color when the sun was about to set.

Temari breathed in and out, exhaustedly, as she said in a beautiful giggle, "Did we really just…play in the lake…like we were twelve?"

I laughed in response which made it harder to catch my breath back, "Yeah…we did…" was all I was able to get out.

Then, without even saying anything else, we both started laughing. We just laughed, for what seemed like a really long time, when in reality it had only been a minute or so. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt this happy.

I turned my face to look at Temari and felt my heart speed up when I saw that she was already looking at me.

"Temari-"

"Both of you stand up, right now!"

A voice echoed in the air and frightened both me and Temari as we jumped up from the dock and looked behind us, towards the firm and unidentifiable voice. Once we turned around, my heart sank when I saw two police officers standing at the front of the dock. One was a woman, and the other was a man much taller than her. They were holding their police sticks as if they were ready to pounce at us if we were going to try and resist.

"Shit," Temari muttered almost inaudibly next to me.

"Don't make us say it again! Stand up!" The woman police officer repeated as she stepped forward, "You are trespassing on private property! You are under arrest!"

Of course, Temari would be able to come here hundreds of times without getting caught, but the first time I come, we would both be going to jail.

* * *

Obviously we did not even try to resist arrest. We quietly went with both the officers, back through the woods and got into their police cars without making a sound. I was nervous that they were going to put us both in hand cuffs, but they said that since we did not try to defy them in any way, they would do without them this time. The whole time we rode in the car, I looked over to Temari, who had an unidentified expression on her face, although I could swear that it was somewhat amused.

Once we got to the station, they took us in and explained to us that they heard us screaming and splashing around in the lake, and that's how they were able to catch us. Temari could not hide her smirk beside me as they explained that trespassing was a crime and I subtly nudged her in the arm as if to tell her that she better not laugh, we were in enough trouble as it was. They looked at both of us like we were idiotic kids before separating us, throwing us in individual cells while they decided what to do with us.

My heart felt like it was going to explode in my chest. I was with three other guys in the cell, one was clearly a midget with his face completely tattooed, one was abnormally large with a ripped sleeveless shirt, and the other was a rather skinny guy that seemed to be doing worse than I was seeing as how he was in the fetal position in the corner.

Great. I might as well call myself a criminal.

I don't know how many hours went by as I sat in the cell. Nobody talked to me or anyone else in the cell, and the other guys just sat far away from me while staring at me, daring me to _try_ something. I simply sat in the other corner the fetal position guy wasn't occupying, and silently started praying for some kind of miracle that would get me back home into my bed.

Finally, a miracle did come, but not in a way that I expected. One of the officers came and unlocked the cell, calling my name, "Shikamaru Nara," he looked up from his clipboard as I approached him at his request. "Come with me."

Not that I even had a choice in the matter, the officer forcedly grabbed me by my elbow and started leading me towards God knows where.

"Where are we going?" I dared ask as he continued to lead me.

"You were bailed out," The officer replied flatly, "I'm taking you to the station lobby."

This concerned me. The whole time I had been in the cell, sitting in sopping wet clothes that were honestly starting to chafe me, I had not gotten to call anyone. That mean't that nobody besides Temari knew that I was in temporary jail.

So who bailed me out?

My attention was quickly drawn to the officers grasp on my elbow that was oddly tightening.

"You don't have to hold me so tight, I'm not a serial killer," I frowned at the cop who had his hand still securely around my elbow.

The cop ignored my comment as he continued to pull me forward, rolling his eyes so that I could clearly see them.

We finally reached a room on the right side of the hallway and the cop reached over to the door handle, turned it, and basically thrust me inside ahead of him. I was about to complain that it really wasn't necessary to be so rough as I stumbled inside, but the thought quickly escaped my mind when I saw who was in the room waiting for me. And it is not an understatement that I was very close to shitting my pants.

Temari was sitting on a black, leather couch, trying to comb out the tangles in her hair with her fingers while Gaara stood above her beside the arm of the couch. His arms were crossed firmly across his chest, his teeth were visibly clenched and his face was almost as red as his hair. Temari's expression switched from painfully tugging knots out of her hair, to a sudden form of excitement when she saw me walk into the room. Gaara's expression got a little for furious, although I wasn't sure that was possible.

"Shikamaru," Temari smirked as she said my name in that unique way she always did, "I see you survived prison. Did they man handle you?" Her smile made me want to return it, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of how mad Gaara looked.

I may have survived a few hours in jail, but I was absolutely sure I would not survive the wrath of her brother.

"Do you think this is funny?" Gaara gazed angrily down at Temari, who returned it with an expression that told us she was unphased by his anger. "Getting arrested is a big joke to you?"

"Getting arrested for playing in a lake?" Temari met his gaze hard, if not harder, "Yeah, I think its pretty hilarious."

"Getting arrested is a crime, Temari," Gaara's voice was almost shaky, but it was subtle, "You should be ashamed of yourself for acting like a child!"

Temari stood up from the couch and got a few inches from Gaara's face, "You're not my dad, Gaara, you're my little brother. Its not your job to lecture me."

Gaara took a step back from her, but did not soften his hard expression. He shifted his dark eyes over to me and turned his head. I could have sworn I witnessed steam coming from his ears.

"And you? Do you think this is funny?" Gaara glared a thousand daggers at me as I tried to fumble for words, "Do you think that it is appropriate for a boss to come and bail his employee out of jail?"

"No, sir," I quickly held my hands up instinctively, "I do not find it remotely funny, see it was-"

"Then why am I standing here right now, Shikamaru?" Gaara interrupted me in a raised tone that made me jump, "Do you find it funny that I am awakened in the middle of the night to come and bail my sister and her…friend out of jail?"

"No, sir, I-"

"It seems a bit childish, do you not agree!" Gaara's temper was beginning to get out of control when Temari reached over and grabbed his hand into hers.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled before he could get another remark in towards me, "You are being ridiculous! Stop treating me like I'm a kid!"

He jerked his hand out of hers and stepped up to her, "Well, it seems that somebody has got to take role of the responsible adult here, right, Temari? Because it doesn't seem that you are willing to take that place!"

"Screw you, Gaara!" Temari shouted back, "I'm the oldest and you're not going to talk to me like I'm below you!"

"You have always been so responsible, Temari," Gaara replied in a soft, yet terrifying tone, "What made you think trespassing was a good, _adult_, idea?" He pointed his finger in my direction without looking at me, "Was he the one who made you do it?"

I was about to intervene and tell him that it was my idea so he would stop tearing into Temari, but Temari spoke before I did. "It was my idea, Gaara! And guess what? I don't regret it! Not even a little bit!"

"You are being so ridiculous-"

"Do you want me to tell you what is ridiculous, Gaara?" Temari interrupted him before he could finish, "It is ridiculous for you to think that I should be some proper, boring young lady who sits at a desk all day, working my life away! I'm not like that, Gaara, I'm not like you!"

"I will tell you what is truly ridiculous!-"

"Stop fighting!" I finally reached within myself and gathered the words to scream over the fighting siblings. They both turned away from each other and looked at me, their faces were unreadable as they seemed to be surprised that I had actually taken it upon myself to give them an order. But I didn't back down. It was too late for that. "Why are we fighting over something that is already done? Let it go! At least until morning…it's already midnight, we really need to get out of here and get home. We're all tired and angry…there's no use in fighting over this right now-"

"Do you like my sister, Shikamaru?" Gaara unexpectedly interrupted my short speech, resulting in my jaw dropping and any type of motivational speech I had prepared mentally to fly out the window.

"Gaara!" Temari shrieked uncharacteristically, almost as if she were a thirteen year old girl and her father had just embarrassed her.

"Well, do you?" Gaara asked, completely ignoring Temari's suddenly flushed face.

"I-" I started to say something, I don't know what kind of crap I was going to let fall out of my mouth, but I couldn't just sit there in silence as Gaara's dark eyes seemed to be bearing into my soul.

"Don't answer him, Shikamaru," Temari glared at Gaara while interrupting me. "This conversation is over. Don't bring up situations that have nothing to do with you!"

Situations? What kind of situation was she implying?

"Well, it seems you have been spending quite a bit of time with him lately, it's a natural question to be curious about," Gaara raised a nonexistent brow at his sister. "And if you two are going to be getting arrested together, you might as well make it official,"

"Stop it," Temari uttered this in a terrifying tone that oddly sent a shiver down my spine, "That has nothing to do with anything. We are friends, right Shikamaru?" Her eyes shifted to me, implying that I respond.

It was weird hearing her say that we were _friends_, but I just nodded and mumbled, "Uh, yeah-"

"And that's all you need to know," Temari interrupted me and looked back to Gaara. "We're done with this subject. Let's go home, we all have work tomorrow," She bent down and gathered an unidentifiable jacket that I assumed was Gaara's and zipped past him and I, heading out the door before either of us could intervene with her passing.

It was just Gaara and I left in the room, and I steadily looked back at Gaara who I suspected was still angry at me. Oddly enough though, he didn't seem to be glaring as hard at me as he was a few minutes ago. His facial expression still wasn't thrilled, however.

He began to approach me slowly. I stood completely still, mentally preparing myself for a punch in the face or a kick in the groin as he got closer. But nothing came. Instead, he stepped in until he was only a few inches from my face and I could hear his uneven breathing as he spoke.

"Let's get one thing straight," Gaara squinted his eyes at me as I tried not to let my eyes dart around the room, "Hanging out with my sister is one thing, but if you hurt her…you'll have more to worry about than extra paperwork at the office." His voice was poisonous as it came out, almost like the words were going to wrap around my neck like a boa constrictor and squeeze the life out of me. "Do you understand me, Nara?"

I knew he only called me by my last name when he was close to firing me, or in this case, shoving his fist down my throat.

I quickly nodded in response, "U-Understood, sir,"

He stepped away from me and walked around to the door, vanishing outside of it in an instance.

I was standing alone in the room now, suddenly realizing that my hands were shaking. Gaara was a terrifying boss, and an even more terrifying brother.

* * *

**A/N:** Hello, my wonderful readers, and thank you for again reading my new chapter and leaving your wonderful reviews. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and enjoyed some of the ShikaTema fluff in the quarry scenes. However, before you prance off to read your next fanfic, I would like to address something that has kind of been bothering me about this story.

I would like to address that I have been getting quite a bit a remarks such as: "Don't abandon this story please just hurry up and update", "Just finish the story already!", "I LOVE THIS STORY I NEED YOU TO HURRY UP AND UPDATE" and I have finally gotten enough of them that I decided I needed to address this matter. Please, I would like you all to be aware and remember that I do have a life outside of this website. I am twenty years old, I work from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, and have even been picking up some work on the weekends. I always try to at least write bits and pieces of the next chapters for _The Trouble With Love _and _The Crimson Blossom _before I go to bed, but sometimes I am not able to do so. Please be aware that I started this account and these two stories as a hobby when I get free time because I love to write. Pressuring me to 'update quickly' and to 'not forget about my stories' is not going to make me update any faster. Let me clear up, that "I hope you update soon!" is not offensive to me, and I don't want you all to get it twisted. I understand you are expressing that you love the story and hope that I update soon, and that is fine, its when people are basically going off on me and screaming at me to hurry up and update, where I get frustrated. It is rude. Please be aware that I am a very busy person, and although I would love to sit in front of the computer and give you guys new chapters every three hours, fan fiction does not pay my bills. I do hope you understand and just to reassure everyone who really loves this story, I fully intend to finish this story. I know how frustrating it is to love a good story and see that it has been discontinued. I do not plan to do that, I fully plan on ending it with a satisfying ending for everyone. Rest assured, it will be finished. It will not be finished within a month, but I **promise** that I will finish it. Please be patient with me, and as always, thank you for your support.

I also wanted to address a certain comment from an anonymous guest, referring to how my "sex scenes" with Shikamaru and Ino were not "real" sex scenes. I would like to remind you that this is a ShikaTema fanfic. Any interaction with Shikamaru and Ino sexually will not be described in great detail, because the story is not about _them_. It is about Shikamaru and Temari. As such, I will not go into great detail concerning a couple that the story is not about, even though the interaction between them is important to the plot. However, you can rest assured that interaction between Shikamaru and Temari will be taken to great lengths and description and thought out intently. But I would also like to remind you that, although this fanfic is rated M and it will have content that makes it rightfully so rated, this is not a hentai fic. Please do not expect something you would see in hentai or porn, because you will be disappointed. I wrote this fic to be about love, emotion along with sex. It is not just about sex and I never intended for it to be. And as always, if you don't agree with the way that I am writing _**my**_ story, to each their own. I would recommend you don't read what you don't like.


	8. Chapter 8

The only thing that was worse than being threatened by Gaara, was having to walk all the way home from the police station because I forgot that we had taken Temari's car. It could have been worse, I guess, considering that Chouji's house was only a few blocks away from the station, but it was still a drag nonetheless to walk on the streets after dark. The weirdo's always came out after midnight and sat on the street corners, rehearsing their sob stories about how they needed to sell crack to pay for their lovers bail money or something. I don't know, their stories could be true I suppose, but I don't want to be the one caught with a bag full of crack, especially since its clear that my luck isn't the greatest.

I tried so hard to sneak into Chouji's house without waking him. I pulled the spare key out from under the mat, twisted it in the lock as silently as I could manage, and tip toed into the house while shutting the door as if I were trying not to wake a baby rather than a grown man. All my efforts were pointless, though, when as soon as I tried inching towards my room like some sort of ninja, the lamp flickered on in the corner of the living room.

Chouji was sitting in the recliner, a bag of chips in one hand and a soda in the other, dressed in his striped pajama's with his ridiculous yellow house shoes on. His eyes were hooked on me as if I were a grounded teenager who had snuck out to go to a drunken party.

"Chouji," My eyes squinted at the sudden light source in the previously pitch black room, "Why the hell are you sitting in a dark room this late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Chouji oddly tapped his foot twice as if he were a scolding mother.

I arched a brow at him, "I'm not sitting in the dark."

"No, you're just sneaking around in it," Chouji's eyes were concentrated on me, "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

I reached down to slip my shoes off, "Sorry, mom, I lost track of time," I replied sarcastically and rolled my eyes as I placed them neatly beside the front door.

"Where the hell were you?" Chouji ignored my snippy comment, "I tried calling you ten times. _Ten_. Do you not know how to pick up a phone? You know the murderers and weird people come out late at night in the city!" Chouji sounded like a nagging girlfriend in that moment.

"I'm a twenty-five year old man, I think I can take care of myself," I responded as I starting heading towards my room, "I don't need someone to take care of me. If I wanted to be scolded for being out late, I'd just move back in with my mother."

"I'm not complaining at you because you stayed out late, I'm complaining because I was worried. Is it so weird to be worried about my best friend?" Chouji jumped up and followed me, chips and soda still in hand.

"With the amount of concern you're expressing, yes, it is a little weird," I admitted as I stepped into my room and flicked the light on.

Chouji breathed loudly at me, "I'm just saying, you say you're going to go get pizza, you don't answer your phone, then come home after midnight. It doesn't take more than five hours to go get pizza, Shikamaru!"

I slipped my shirt over my head as Chouji was rambling at me, "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I didn't realize how long Temari and I were at the station. And they wouldn't let me have my phone in the cell with me."

I hadn't even realized what I said until it was too late. My comment stopped Chouji completely in his tracks, and now he was looking me with even more concern than he had before, which I didn't even know was possible.

"What did you just say?" He asked, his tone oddly almost in a whisper.

I sighed. "Chouji-"

"You got arrested?!" Chouji's voice echoed loudly in the small room, ringing my ears from the sudden loudness. "What the hell did you do?!"

"Stop yelling," I squinted one eye as I dug at the ringing in my right ear, "I'm telling you, its not a big deal…it was just some…minor trespassing." I said the last word almost in a whisper, but Chouji had clearly heard it based off the expression on his face.

"Trespassing?" Chouji repeated what I had just said, "You got arrested for fucking trespassing? Are you kidding me?"

I shook my head, "Look, it really isn't anything-"

"You could have at least gotten arrested for something cooler than that!" Chouji chuckled loudly as he shoved my shoulder back roughly, causing me to stumble back. "You're telling me that you got arrested for something as lame as trespassing? That's so weak!" All his irritation previously seemed to vanish magically as he continued to laugh at me.

I felt an itch of annoyance under my skin, "Shut up, it wasn't like we intended on getting arrested."

Chouji, once again, stopped completely. "We? Who is we?"

"Who do you think?" I bit harshly, feeling my eyes begin to get heavy from exhaustion. I really didn't want to get into all this with him tonight. I really just yearned to go to bed.

But Chouji wasn't going to let me go that easily, "Temari? You two went trespassing together? What, did you guys just decide to go cow tipping on someone's farm or something?"

"No, man, we went to a quarry."

"A quarry?" Chouji seemed to just be repeating everything I said, which was greatly annoying me. "There's no quarries around here."

I sighed, "Yes there is. Look, its late, man, and we've gotta work tomorrow. I know you were freaked out…or whatever, but I'm fine. I can tell you all about it tomorrow, I really just want to go to sleep now."

Chouji pursed his lips at me and crossed his arms, obviously pouting as I slowly crawled into bed, not even bothering switching my pants for some Pajama's. "Fine, but I want to hear the whole story tomorrow. I want to know everything that you and _Temari_," He put emphasis on her name which made me groan, "did today."

"Whatever," I motioned with my hand for him to leave, "Turn the light off on your way out."

"Fine, oh!-" Chouji quickly paused as he clearly remembered something he deemed of importance, "Naruto came by while you were out getting arrested."-I rolled my eyes, but didn't say anything- "He tried waiting for you, but when you didn't get back home by eight, he went ahead and left. But he wanted me to tell you that all of the wedding party is getting together on lunch break tomorrow to discuss the wedding. He said it was the only time everyone seemed to be available, and theres some things that they want to talk about with everyone. We're meeting at that Italian place across from the city park."

"The place that always gives me diarrhea?" I forgot the name of it, but I could never forget the hell it unleashed on the toilet.

"No, the other one." Chouji said, "The Grape Vine."

I sighed as I remembered the name, "That's the one that gives me diarrhea."

"Oh, well then I suggest taking your lunch tomorrow." Chouji replied as he flicked the light off. He shut the door behind him, leaving me in complete darkness.

Great. So I would have to see my raging bitch ex girlfriend tomorrow _and_ have diarrhea.

* * *

Chouji and I carpooled together to The Grape Vine on our lunch break the next day. I was already exhausted from not getting to bed until early that morning, and although Chouji had stayed up for me, he didn't seem to be as affected as I was. Then again, he was drinking energy drink by what seemed like the gallon. I was sure he would begin to see sounds if he drank anymore.

We walked into the restaurant-I was already feeling my lower intestines start to cramp by just smelling the place-and walked straight to the table that was already reserved for us. Chouji and I were the first to arrive, then Neji-Hinata's cousin- and Hanabi-Hinata's little sister-arrived minutes after we did, then Sakura and Tenten after them. Ino walked in with Sasuke, hand in hand like a ridiculous high school couple soon after. She sat a few chairs away, across the table from me. We absolutely refused to make eye contact with one another, clearly still feeling bitter from the situation yesterday.

Hinata and Naruto were the lasts to arrive, not that I was surprised. Naruto had driven the both of them after he picked Hinata up from home. It was just like Naruto to be late to his own lunch gathering.

"Thank you for coming, everyone," Hinata stood up from her seat, beside Naruto at the head of the table, once everyone was seated. She was wearing a baby blue dress that reached her knees; The chest was buttoned up to her neck with a few ruffles around the collar. Her long dark hair was tied up into a ponytail that reached the length of her elbows and she had a white headband securing her bangs in the middle of her pulled back hair. She blinked shyly while clasping her hands together in front of her as everyone quickly began to grow quiet.

"We wanted to have everyone get together as soon as possible so that we could get started on some of the wedding planning. Naruto and I," She glanced down at the blond who eagerly grabbed her hand and threw a bright smile at her, "Have decided that we want the wedding to take place in six months."

"Woah, six months?" Tenten leaned forward on the table, eyeing Hinata with her deep chocolate eyes, "Are you sure that's enough time to plan an entire wedding? It seems very soon, doesn't it?"

Naruto, keeing his hand firmly wrapped around Hinata's, stood up next to her once Tenten was done speaking. Naruto was dressed in his usual work outfit, a plain black shirt with an average looking pair of jeans. He worked at a desk job like the rest of us, but mostly managed phone calls, so his boss didn't really care what he wore to work so long as it was appropriate. "We knew someone would question us about that, and honestly, it is very soon. We know that. We know it will take a lot of work planning a wedding within that time limit."

"But," Hinata jumped quickly off of Naruto's statement, "We also decided that it doesn't bother us…we will work as hard as necessary to meet the time frame. We know it is very quick, but we don't want to wait any longer than we have to."

Sakura shifted in her seat to turn more towards Hinata and Naruto, "I understand that you guys are excited, but planning a wedding is a big deal…and it can be expensive if people don't know what their doing. It'll take six months by itself to even get all the materials prepared."

"That's where you doubt us, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed as he released Hinata's hand and bent down under his chair to pick something up. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows at how obnoxious Naruto was, but quickly changed her expression to surprise when Naruto dropped a very heavy book down onto the table with a loud _THUD_.

"What the heck is that?" Hanabi asked as her pale eyes explored the thick brown book that was only a few inches away from her.

"This, my future sister-in-law, is Hinata's wedding planning book!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly as he threw one arm around Hinata's shoulders. "She's been planning our future wedding for months now. I guess she always knew I would end up proposing to her!" He leaned in and planted a small kiss on Hinata's blushing cheek as she turned away bashfully. Neji shifted awkwardly next to me, clearly made uncomfortable by the public affection he was not accustomed to.

Naruto was an idiot, though. Anybody with eyes or ears could have guessed he would propose to her eventually, considering she was all he obsessed over in all his conversations.

"Okay, you've got it all planned out," Ino spoke up, making my blood race with instant annoyance. "You still need money, though."

"Actually, that is covered too, life sized Barbie," Naruto nodded happily after Ino's comment. His Barbie comment made Ino's expression twist into irritation, in which I tried to hide my smirk. "All of you know how Hinata's dad, Hiashi, is like a millionaire and everything-I know, who would have known soup in a bag would have been so famous!-and as a wedding gift to Hinata, he volunteered to pay for the entire wedding!"

"So long as it stays under ten thousand," Hinata whispered quietly next to him.

"So long as it stays under ten thousand!" Naruto repeated excitedly. "As long as we stay under that budget, the whole thing is completely taken care of!"

Naruto quickly opened the book and began pulling things out left and right, preparing them so that he could explain them to the group. Hinata, at first, looked horrified that he was messing up her perfect organization, but quickly disregarded it when she saw the look of excitement on his face. She smiled as he seemed to be rambling on about something having to do with how much ramen they would have at the reception. I wont lie, it made the corners of my mouth curl up a bit. They really were a good couple.

The waitress came around and asked us what we wanted off the menu. I ordered just a bowl of soup along with a water-surely that wouldn't upset my stomach too much-while Chouji sitting next to me seemed to be ordering one of everything off the menu.

Once the waitress brought back our food, Naruto picked up a stray piece of paper off the corner of the table and inspected it with a blank look on his face. "Hey, Hinata, whats this?" he asked.

Hinata took the piece of paper from him gently and overlooked it, "Oh, it's the order of which the bridesmaids and the groomsmen will walk down the aisle." She smiled in her response.

"Oh, cool!" Tenten exclaimed, "Who walks with who?"

"Go ahead and tell them, Hinata," Naruto smiled as he grinned happily at his fiancée.

Hinata smiled back at him and turned to begin reading off the list, "Hanabi will walk with Neji…Tenten will walk with Chouji…Sakura will walk with Sasuke…and, oh-" Hinata quickly stopped as she pulled the sheet of paper closer to her face, as if she all of a sudden couldn't read what was written on the paper. "Oh, no, that's not right…" She whispered to herself, yet everyone at the table heard it.

"What's the matter?" Naruto glanced at the paper in concern next to her.

"It says that…" Hinata glanced at me quickly, then back to the paper. I stretched forward to listen to what she was trying to say, and if I hadn't had been straining my hearing, I wouldn't have been able to hear her say, "It says that Ino is supposed to walk with Shikamaru…"

Of course that's what the paper said. It wasn't exactly like I was expecting it to say something else, right?

Ino must of heard her whisper too, because as soon as I turned to glance at her, she was already staring at me. Something unidentifiable seemed to flash in those pale blue eyes that made me question what she was thinking.

I quickly looked away from her, deciding it was best that I ignore her.

"I-I'll change it as soon as I get home," Hinata stuttered, utterly embarrassed that she had completely overlooked who she was pairing everyone up with, "I'm sorry, for some reason it hadn't even occurred to me…"

"Its alright, babe," Naruto pulled the flushed Hyuga towards him, "We'll just change it, then everyone will be happy. Right, guys?" Naruto flashed his shining blue eyes in my direction, but also flickered them slightly once his eyes made eye contact with mine. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was wanting me to help reassure Hinata that she hadn't embarrassed us.

"Uh," I cleared my throat while I spoke up, causing everyone at the table to turn and stare at me, "Don't worry about it, Hinata, you guys can just change it and-"

"You don't have to change it," Ino's voice spoke loudly over mine, her words were so quick they almost came out in a jumble, and they almost completely flew over the top of my head.

But they didn't. I had heard exactly what she had said. And basing on the way everyone quickly turned their heads to stare at her in shock, everyone else at heard it too.

"We're adults, aren't we?" Ino shrugged under everyone's stares and looked down at her soup, picking up the spoon next to it and gently swirling it around the bowl. "We can be mature and walk down an aisle together without causing a scene. I mean, it's literally a ten second walk down the aisle…it's not like we have to spend a weekend alone in a cabin." She looked up at me after she finished her comment and smirked a very subtle grin at me, so subtle that I was absolutely positive I was the only one in the room who had seen it. "That is…unless your girlfriend would get jealous about it."

The best way to describe the sudden emotion that filled me after she retorted that last comment, was fury. I felt my ears suddenly get hot, my fists clenched without me even noticing and my face was burning from the anger that suddenly began pulsing through me that I felt my forehead begin to sweat. So _that_ was her game. She was aiming to toy with Temari. Temari wasn't my girlfriend, but in her eyes, I was happily moving on, and that just wouldn't do well for her. She wanted me to hurt, no, she wanted _Temari_ to hurt after what Temari said to her at the pizza restaurant. That was just like Ino. She was the queen bee, and one of her subordinates had stepped over the line. She wanted to make us pay.

She stared at me as if I were the only person in the room. I stared back, my vision seeming to be behind a curtain of red as her lips pursed into that familiar snooty grin that I absolutely despised. I was tired of her playing with me. I was tired of her believing that she could treat me any fucking way she wanted. She was the fucking one who deserved to hurt! I hated her, God, how I hated her! What gave her the right to go around picking on anyone who she thought was lesser than her? I wanted to jump across that fucking table and wipe that stupid grin off her face!

I felt a hand grip my left shoulder, automatically bringing me back into reality and my blurred red vision starting to disappear. I knew it was Chouji who grabbed me, obviously noticing my clenched fists and tightened jaw. Probably the shaking too, hell, I hadn't even realized it. I didn't stop staring at her though. I didn't stop staring at her smartass smile.

"Shikamaru?" Naruto's voice echoed in my ears, causing my attention to shift to the blond who was standing next to a red faced Hinata, with a look of concern on his own features. "Are you alright?"

"She's not my girlfriend," I stated, clearly and loudly enough for the entire table to hear me. I wouldn't let Ino get what she wanted. I wouldn't let her degrade me anymore. "She's just a friend."

"Oh, just a friend?" That high pitched voice made me cringe as I averted my gaze from Naruto, back to the pale faced blond across the table from me. "So, she won't mind if we walk down the aisle, right? Does that mean you're going alone?"

"Ino," Sakura murmured next to her, her face was tight. "Stop." She placed her hand on Ino's thigh under the table, but Ino ignored her and shook it off.

"I'm just asking," Ino furrowed her eyebrows at Sakura, then turned back to me. "You're going to a wedding alone?"

I clenched my teeth behind closed lips, "Yes." I replied, trying to hide the shaking in my voice. Not here. I can't lose my cool here in front of all our friends. I can't.

"Aw," Ino let out a reply along with a noise that sounded nothing less than sympathetic, "That stinks. Going to a wedding alone is no fun. Who will you dance with?"

"Ino, stop it," Sasuke's deep voice suddenly rolled over me, I hadn't expected him to speak up in the situation at all. "You're trying to start drama and it isn't needed."

"I'm not starting anything," Ino glared at Sasuke as she leaned against the back of her seat, "I was just wondering. That's all."

"Well, its none of your fucking business!" Chouji quickly chimed in, causing Ino's jaw to drop at the unexpected comment from beside me, "Do you ever think about what comes out of that fat ass mouth of yours? Or do you just spew out shit all the time?"

"How dare you talk to me like that!-"

"Hey, everyone shut up and stop it!" Naruto slammed his hands on the table, causing everyone to jump, including Hinata, who had finally sat down in her chair and began covering up her burning face. "You're making Hinata feel bad!" He said angrily, placing a hand on Hinata's shoulder.

"I-I-I didn't mean to start anything, I-I honestly wasn't paying a-attention-"

"Hinata, you are not the cause of this," Neji spoke across from her, defense obviously becoming apparent in his tone. "There are some matters that do not need to be brought to the table," Neji glared at Ino. She crossed her arms and turned slightly away from his stare.

Naruto sighed once the entire table was quiet. Chouji's hand was still on my shoulder, and I could feel him shaking slightly now because of _his_ anger. We were a lot alike, in that way. We both got so angry sometimes that we could only physically shake as we felt the waves of fury surf through us.

"Listen, we'll change it as soon as we get home, and forget this ever-"

"Leave it," I responded darkly, interrupting Naruto before he could finish.

Everyone looked at me as if I were crazy, including Ino. I ignored them and continued on. "Like Ino so kindly put it, we are adults. We can act like adults. However," I looked at Naruto, who seemed to be pleading with his eyes to drop the subject before Hinata passed out from embarrassment, "I would like a plus one…if you don't mind me asking for one."

"You just said that she wasn't your girlfriend," Ino spoke up before anyone else could question me.

I glared at her with hate filled eyes, "I lied. She is. We just didn't want to come public with it yet. Thought it may have been too soon." I lied, feeling my heart beat faster in my chest as Ino's mouth slightly dropped open. "But, since I would really hate to not have anyone to dance with, as you put it," Ino shot me a death glare that would have surely killed me if looks could kill, "I figured now is a better time than ever to come out with our new relationship."

I don't know what in the world I was thinking in that moment. I was completely lying through my teeth. Temari and I weren't even close to being in a relationship, yet here I was lying to all my friends about us? What in the world was coming over me? Now I was getting myself into a lie that I would have to find a way out of. What the hell would Temari think when I tell her that I just volunteered her to be my fucking girlfriend?

But at that very minute, I didn't care. I didn't fucking care at all. I couldn't let Ino keep taunting me. I couldn't let her win. She wanted a battle...and I'll be _damned_ if she wasn't going to get one.

"So, what are you saying, Shikamaru? You want to bring your girlfriend…and still walk down the aisle with Ino?" Naruto questioned while scratching his head absently. It was clear this was all beginning to get to confusing for him. "Won't that just cause a bunch of drama? Cause, I'm telling you right now, there will not be any drama at our wedding!"

I smiled at Naruto and shook my head. Oh well. I was too far in to back out now. "You're right. There won't be. Temari won't get jealous," I shifted my gaze to Ino, and once again, it seemed as if we were the only people in the room once more. And, although the comment was directed to Naruto, it was as if I were saying it directly and forwardly to Ino herself. "She's not _childish_ enough to get jealous over something like that."

The look on Ino's face after my comment made the lie completely worth it.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for your recent reviews! I won't even lie to you, i kind of flew through this chapter, and it may be evident that I did. I will probably even end up going back through it and editing it alot more in the near future, but hey, I'm no professional writer and sometimes these things happen. Honestly, I wanted to go ahead and update this chapter because I am REALLY excited for the next chapter. I've already got it pretty much planned out and i really think you guys are going to enjoy it.

A few side notes before we depart:

1) I started a new story the other night, called _Trepidation_. If you are into darker fics, I would really love it if you went and checked it out. I am aiming to get at least five reviews on the first chapter before releasing the second one-just to be sure it will actually have readers before i put too much effort into it. So, please, if you are interested, go read the first chapter and drop a review for me. Who knows...if I get some reviews on it, I may be motivated to update both that story AND this one within the week...hm... (;

2) I would like to remind everyone that negativity is not accepted on my stories or profile. Whether that negativity regards my writing, myself or someone else, please be aware that if you are being negative just for the sake of being an asshole, your comment will be ignored and deleted. I absolutely refuse to go back and forth with someone who just wants to argue on a site that i come to for stress relief. Your critiques are, as always, more than appreciated as long as they are expressed in a POLITE manner. Like i said, i am no professional writer and my writing does have flaws. But please also remember that i am writing purely for entertainment, and it is very rude to completely degrade someone's work just because you're bored with your own life.

Thank you as always, i hoped you enjoyed this chapter, even if it was a bit rushed.


	9. Chapter 9

My heart felt like it was going jump out of my body, via my throat. I was an idiot. An absolute fucking idiot. I was so determined to overthrow Ino in our little pissing contest back at the restaurant, that I hadn't even registered that Temari might actually kill me for volunteering her to be my girlfriend. Temari didn't deserve for me to drag her into my personal matters more than she already had been drug into them. I wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to me again after this. I probably wouldn't.

My heart was beating so fast because once I got back from my lunch break, I had looked up Temari's phone number and called her. I got her voicemail, assuming she was also busy with work, so I left her a message telling her she needed to call me as soon as she got it. The feeling didn't finally begin settling until Temari texted me back with an, _K. Everything ok?_

I quickly typed on the little keyboard, _Yeah. Something I need 2 tlk 2 u about._ I usually wasn't one for text lingo, but I was typing too fast to spell everything out.

_U going to tell me u got a body in ur basement?_ She wrote a laughing emoji after that.

I rolled my eyes, but smirked. _Ur hilarious._

_I get off 5. Wht time u get off?_

_5\. _I replied.

_I will come by ur house. Cool?_

I gulped. I'd have to face her in person. My palms were sweaty as I sent back a, _Sure_.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Gaara had kept loading me up with paperwork-intentional, I'm sure-so I wasn't able to get out of work until almost five fifteen.

Luckily Chouji didn't live far, and when I pulled into the driveway, I recognized Temari's car parked on the road. Chouji had gotten home before me, and I assumed he let her in. It took about five minutes of pep talk to myself to finally get out of the car and go into the house.

As soon as I walked in, I was greeted with Temari sitting on the couch next to Chouji. She had the remote in her hand and seemed to be channel surfing like the last time she did when she was here, and Chouji just sat awkwardly next to her. If it had been me, Chouji would have fought me tooth and nail for the remote control, but there was no way he was going to object to a strong, beautiful woman like Temari.

Hell, he'd probably even let her have the last potato chip in the bag.

"Sorry I'm later than expected," I apologized as I kicked my shoes off at the door.

"That's alright," Temari commented without looking at me, "It's your world, Shikamaru, we're just living in it."

"Wow, snippy this evening, I see," I tossed my jacket on the clothes hanger by the door.

"I got my period this morning," Temari growled. The mention of a 'period' always made us men cringe, so she wasn't surprised when Chouji and I grimaced in disgust. "So I'm a little moody."

Chouji looked at me as if his eyes were pleading, _"Moody is not a strong enough word to describe her right now."_

But then I realized I would have to tell her about my little incident with Ino this afternoon, while her emotions were hyped up because of her period. Great. I really was going to get murdered.

"What did you want?" Temari finally placed the remote next to her and looked at me.

I sighed, there wasn't a point in prolonging my inevitable death, "Well…there isn't really an easy way to tell you-"

"Did you used to be a woman?" Temari asked, her tone turning to complete seriousness, "I won't judge you, but tell me now, because I will not be fooled again."

I opened my mouth to object to her strange accusation, but stopped at the word _again_. Chouji seemed to stare at her as if she needed to immediately explain what she meant too.

Temari noticed our questioning glances and shrugged, "That's a story for another time," Chouji's shoulders slightly slumped in disappointment, "I came here because I want to know what's so important that you need to tell me."

"Well, after that comment, I kind of lost my train of thought," I admitted. Who says something like that and doesn't bother to clarify?

Temari looked irritated, "Get on with it, old man."

Chouji bit back a snicker at her comment, and I just crossed my arms and ignored it. "We went to a lunch with Naruto and Hinata today-"

"Who?"

"Naruto and Hinata, my friends that are getting married soon."

"You never said you had friends."

Chouji held back another snicker. I glared at him.

"Anyway, their engaged and getting married. Chouji and I are two of the groomsmen."

"Congratulations," Temari did not look the least bit sincere, "And?"

"And Ino happens to be one of the bridesmaids." I continued, although I stopped once I saw Temari's face light up at the mention of Ino's name.

"Ino," She repeated as she scooted to the edge of the couch, "As in, your skank ex girlfriend, Ino?"

I nodded, not objecting to her name calling, because of course, she was right. "Yeah, the very same."

"Okay," She said as she absently reached up and touched her chin, "I'm slightly intrigued. Go on."

I grinned. Of course Temari was intrigued. She would do anything to annoy the shit out of Ino after the way she treated her at the restaurant. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad afterall.

"Hinata accidentally listed us as walking down the aisle together," I pressed on, earning an unidentifiable expression from Temari.

"Sucks man," She stated, "I wouldn't want to be seen anywhere near that drama queen bitch."

"Damn," Chouji laughed, causing us both to acknowledge him, "She is much feistier than Ino!"

Temari smirked as she looked back at me, as if she were appreciating Chouji's comment. "So, you're walking down the aisle with her?"

I nodded, "Unfortunately, but at first I was going to object. Because, obviously it would be really awkward otherwise. But then Ino started pushing me, and started taunting me. She was wondering if I wanted to object because she thought you would get jealous."

Temari's posture spiked up as she suddenly heard herself get brought into the equation. "She said I would get jealous?" She looked puzzled, "Why would she say some stupid shit like that?"

"Well," Here it goes. My life depended on this next statement. I opened my mouth, and before I knew it, the words came spilling out before I could even register what I was saying. Chouji and Temari both looked at me, wide eyed, as I rambled:

"She asked me if we were a couple and I said no because we're obviously not but then she started taunting me saying things like it was really sad how I was going to a wedding by myself and that I wouldn't have anyone to dance with so I got so mad at her because she just kept taunting and taunting and pushing and pushing! So I finally just said that we were a couple and that we were trying to be secretive about it because we didn't think it was the right time to come out and tell our friends so I asked for a plus one from Naruto and the reason I called you over to talk to you is because I need you to be my plus one so that I can finally get back at Ino for being a twisted, maniacal, bitch."

I found myself slightly panting to regain my breath, realizing that my sudden splurge of words took all the breath out of me. Temari, along with Chouji, just stared at me as if they were trying to register everything that I had just said. Chouji, who was even there when all of this happened earlier, seemed genuinely confused by my quick pace of words.

However, based on Temari's expression, she had already registered it and came up with a reply. "You're saying, you need me…to be your fake girlfriend so you can make your ex jealous?"

Wow. It sounded really shitty when she put it that way.

"Well," I rubbed the back of my head as my eyes began to wonder, "I really didn't want to bring you into anything, especially after everything you've done for me-"

"Stop rambling," Temari was getting annoyed, "Spit it out. Yes, you want me to be your fake girlfriend, or no?"

I swallowed hard, still not looking at her because of the edge that was present in her tone. I let out in a pitiful whisper, "Yes."

"Yes what?" Temari asked, out of the corner of my eye I saw her fighting back a smirk. She was taunting me now too.

"Yes," I said more clearly, beginning to get annoyed. "I need you to be my fake girlfriend."

"Hn," Temari crossed her arms and leaned back against the couch. Chouji was staring intently at both of us, as if he were waiting for Temari to start a scene indicating that hell was breaking loose. It was a long pause before anyone said anything, and Temari's facial expression didn't exactly express joy.

"Look-" I opened my mouth to speak, to tell her to just forget everything I had said because it was selfish of me to use her in a way to make Ino jealous, and I felt like a jackass for even bringing it up. However, she interrupted me before I could even apologize. Instead of ripping me a new one, she said:

"What the hell," Shrugging her shoulders, "I've got nothing better to do."

I can't really explain the emotion I felt once I heard those relieving words, so I had to make sure I understood exactly what she was meaning. "What?"

"I'll do it," Temari reiterated. "Is your hearing going out?"

I ignored her comment, "Really? You're okay with it?"

She shrugged again, "I'd love to see her squirm when faced with a real woman. And like I said, I don't have anything better to do, so what the hell."

I wanted to jump over and hug her, but decided against it. She really might beat me to a pulp, then.

But I couldn't believe she had been so cool with it. I had expected her to go off the handle, accuse me of using her for my own personal issues, and probably kick me in the balls. Looking back on it, that was really silly of me to think. So far, Temari was absolutely the coolest girl I had ever met.

"Th-thanks," I tried to hide how happy I was she had agreed. Finally, Ino wasn't going to make me feel like I was a step below her.

"Yeah," Temari acknowledged, "But I have rules."

Rules? "Anything," I stated.

"No touching below the waist," She held her finger up to indicate the number one. "You touch me without permission, I will end you."

I felt my cheeks blush, "I-I wouldn't touch you there, anyway!"

"Just saying," Temari glared, "Two, you leave me for some drunk girl at the wedding, and I will key your car to shit. Got it?"

"I wouldn't do that either!" Did she really think I would do those things to her?

"Three," She ignored my objection, "You can have a beer when you're with me. One beer. That's it. I'm not losing anymore clothing because of you. And I'm sure as hell not taking care of your drunk ass again."

I sighed. She actually had me there.

"Is that all?"

She looked as if she were pondering the question, "Yep, for now. I have the right to come up with more if the situation presents itself though."

I sighed. "Fine."

"You got those rules? Need me to make you a contract or anything?" She was obviously being sarcastic.

I scowled, "I think I have it covered."

Temari looked as if she were going to say something, when Chouji's phone started ringing loudly in his pocket. He looked embarrassed when the familiar "Kung Fu Fighting" song came on and Temari looked at him like he was an idiot.

He withdrew the phone quickly from his pocket and slid the phone call open on his touch screen, trying desperately to silence the annoying ring.

"What do you want, Naruto?" He scolded into the phone, as if it were Naruto's fault that he had an embarrassing ringtone.

Naruto was saying something inaudible to Temari and I on the other end of the phone.

"What?" Apparently Chouji couldn't understand him either, "Hold on, I'm not getting a good signal." He responded into the phone, standing up from the couch, and exiting the room to try and find a good signal spot.

Once he was gone, Temari raised an eyebrow at me, "Kung Fu Fighting?"

I shrugged. Nobody knows why he has that as his ringtone. Nobody knows why Chouji eats ramen with icing on it. Nobody knows why Chouji pours the milk in the bowl before the cereal. Nobody knows why Chouji does the things he does. We just have to accept him for who he is.

"So, when is this so called wedding?"

"About six months," I replied.

"Wow," Temari was taken off guard, "Can they even plan a wedding in six months?"

"That's what we said," I agreed, "But they seem determined."

"I don't get it," Temari crossed her leg over her other one, "You get married, then what? You get to be annoyed by the same person for the rest of your life?"

"Pretty much," She had a point, I guess. "Still, I wouldn't mind getting married one day."

"Really?" Temari looked at me like I had three eyes and tentacles, "You want to get married?"

"Well, yeah," I rubbed the back of my head absently, "I'd like to marry a pretty cool girl. Maybe have a kid or two. You wouldn't?"

She paused before she answered, "I didn't say that," Her eyes averted from mine, "I mean, maybe one day if I find a laid back guy. But I don't know…maybe I just have a negative review on relationships."

I looked away from her as I sat down in the love seat across from the couch, "Yeah, I understand."

"You do?"

I nodded, "When you've been hurt, anyone has a negative view on relationships. I sure as hell do."

Temari pursed her lips like she was going to say something, but I suppose she changed her mind when Chouji came back in with his cell phone in his hand.

"That was Naruto?" I asked, shying away from the marriage topic Temari and I were currently on. Something told me that maybe we shouldn't stray on that conversation for too long.

"Yeah," Chouji acknowledged. "He said he's been trying to call you."

"Phone probably died," I responded, "It was on low battery when I was leaving the office. What did he want?"

"He said that he wanted to invite you and Temari to the bar on Friday night," Chouji smiled as he looked at a confused Temari.

"Me?" Temari pointed to herself, "I don't even know him. Why does he want me there?"

"Apparently, when Shikamaru said you guys were dating today, everyone wants to meet you now." Chouji answered. "It was actually Hinata's idea to introduce you to everyone, and Naruto recommended the bar. So, how about it? Want to get some cold ones after work on Friday?"

Temari cocked her head to the side, "Sure, I don't have any plans. That cool with you?" She looked over at me.

I shrugged, "I don't care. I'm gonna have to introduce you eventually anyway."

"Its settled then," Temari stated as she uncrossed her legs and stood up from the couch. "I'd better get home, I guess. Maybe I can find some coupons or something for the designer dress store on Avenue."

"What?" I looked up at her.

"I need coupons for a new dress," Temari replied as if it were the most obvious fact in the world, "And I'm going to need them if you're going dress shopping with me tomorrow after work."

If I had been drinking something in that moment, I would have spit it out all over her. "Wait, what?!" I jumped up from the loveseat to meet her eye contact at full force, "You never said you were going dress shopping, and I sure as hell did not say I would go with you!"

"If I'm going to meet your friends, I need to look nice," Temari smiled, enjoying the pure torture in my eyes. "I damn sure need to look better than Ino. And since you're my _boyfriend_," She slightly traced her pointer finger across my chin, making me groan. "You're going with me."

"Like hell I am!"

"New rule," Temari smiled darkly, "You're going dress shopping with me."

"That's not even a rule!" I whined as she dropped her hand and waltzed around me in a swift movement.

"My rules…sweetheart." She winked at me as she opened the door and stepped out of the door, shutting it firmly behind her.

I stood there in a daze. What the fuck just happened?

Chouji snickered behind me. "Dude, you're already whipped."

I groaned.

* * *

Temari grabbed several dresses off of the rack, not even really acknowledging what kind they were. She was in the changing room before I was even aware of it, so I just sat on the white couch in front of her door to wait for her to finish.

It only took a minute or two, before she came out with the first dress on. It was a pale yellow and long sleeved, although short in length and only came to the middle of her thigh. The chest was completely covered. I never understood women's clothing; They made no sense. So, the dress is supposed to keep your arms warm, but your legs will still be cold? I don't get it. Why the _hell_ was I dress shopping anyway?

Temari examined herself in an adjacent mirror, with a dissatisfied expression on her face. "Do you like this?" She asked.

I shrugged, "Its okay." I wanted to shoot myself in the head. _Dress shopping_ and _Men_ did not belong in the same sentence. Especially since we had already been to _three fucking stores_ before this.

She pursed her lips at me in the mirror, "Be honest."

"I am being honest," I replied as I folded my hands behind my head, "It's just okay to me. I don't think yellow is really your color."

She seemed amused at my response, "You don't think yellow is my _color_? Do you have like female intellect when it comes to coordinating, now?"

"Not even a little. I grab a shirt and pants in the morning and throw them on. Sometimes they don't even match," I smirked a little, "I'm a guy, we don't care about those things. I meant that, when I think of you, I think of a dark color. Like black, or red. Maybe a dark purple."

"Hm," Temari seemed to be pondering my answer, "I think you're right. I don't even own anything yellow."

_Then why did you try on the damn dress_? I wanted to ask her. But I knew better than that. _Never argue with a woman_. That's what my dad always told me and I think that's the secret of his long marriage_. Just let her do all the talking_. _Its her world_, he used to tell me. Boy, did he hit that nail on the head.

It was such a drag.

Without another word about the dress, Temari was back into the changing room, and came out in a completely opposite looking dress a few minutes later. This dress was black, with a bit of a longer length, and sleeveless. The only thing about this one was that the chest was completely opened and her breasts were only an accidental slip away from being revealed.

Now, being a guy, I didn't mind a little bit of revealing. Guys liked to be teased a little. But if she were supposed to be going as my girlfriend, I wouldn't want her attracting attention from other guys. It might not go over so well if I had to stage a bar fight.

"How about this one?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips and modeling into the mirror.

"It's a bit revealing," I admitted honestly.

"I've actually never heard a guy tell me that something is _too _revealing," Temari scoffed, "Usually it's the other way around. Its not revealing _enough_."

"I mean, I personally don't mind it," I shrugged, once again telling the truth, "But it'll attract attention from other guys. We should probably try to avoid that."

Temari raised a brow at me in the mirror, "What? You gonna get jealous if someone hotter than you tries to talk to me?"

I felt my face flush, "W-what? No, I didn't say that. I'm just saying that if I'm supposed to be your boyfriend, I need to act like it, right? I'm just trying to be protective. Besides, I wouldn't want some creep hitting on you anyway."

"Why?" Temari kept pushing the subject.

I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly, "Well, I mean," I stuttered uncharacteristically, "Not all guys have the right intentions, you know? I wouldn't want you getting hurt or anything."

"You think I can't take care of myself?" There was a hint of humor in her eyes. She enjoyed watching me squirm under the awkwardness of the conversation. I wanted to kick her.

"You know that's not what I mean," I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Hm," She turned to walk back to the dressing room, "Well, thank you for being protective."

I was honestly surprised she had said that. For once, her comment didn't sound sarcastic. Did she really mean that? Well, even if she really wasn't my girlfriend…I really didn't want anyone to hurt her. I mean, she was my friend, right? Especially some pervert who hung out at a bar. I would knock their teeth down their throat before they did anything bad to her.

But that was just a normal feeling that friends got for each other, right?

She flew through an unknown number of dresses, prolonging the tortuous dress hour for another two hours. Finally, we had agreed upon a flattering red dress, that was just perfect; Not too revealing, yet not hiding anything either. I had to admit that she looked flawless in it, and I had never truly noticed how beautiful of a body Temari had. She had an hourglass figure, with the perfect sized features that would please any man. She definitely had Ino beat in the Boobs and Ass battle, seeing as Ino didn't really have either. She would do well to be my girlfriend.

Or…my pretend one, anyway.

* * *

Friday night came quick, as the week just flew by since the hellacious dress shopping had been dealt with. I had picked Temari up at her place, noticing her satisfying appearance as soon as she stepped into my old car. She was wearing the rusty red dress we had picked out, with the low cut that provided a bit of tasteful cleavage. The dress came down to her knees, and shifted up to her middle thigh when she sat down. She was wearing a black necklace around her neck, accompanied by black flats, and her hair was pulled back into a nice looking ponytail. She didn't look too fancy, or too casual.

Ino was going to shit her pants when she saw how much more beautiful she looked than her.

And I was right. As soon as we got to the bar, Ino was already sitting in a booth with Sasuke. She was dressed in a long blue dress with her pale blond hair spilling over her exposed shoulders. Sasuke was in a button down and jeans, identical to me, except I was wearing converse and he was wearing vans.

As soon as Ino saw Temari walk in, I could already see the discomfort on her face. She clenched onto Sasuke's arm, but he didn't seem to notice, as he seemed to be in a rather deep conversation with Sakura who was sitting across from him in the booth.

I felt the corners of my lips turn up as Ino seemed to be staring into Temari's soul. I leaned over to Temari and whispered, "She's already fidgeting."

Temari smirked, "Let's push her a little." She responded as she reached over and physically pulled my hand out of my jean pocket, intertwining her fingers with mine. Her hand was warm; Soft. Even softer than Ino's had been.

Just as expected, Ino furrowed her eyebrows and clenched onto Sasuke's elbow tighter. He still ignored her as we walked over to an empty table and took our seats.

"Shikamaru!" I heard Hinata's familiar soft voice call from behind me. I turned around and smiled as she pranced up to our table, grinning in her pretty pink blouse and jeans. "I'm so glad you made it." Her pale eyes shifted over to Temari, "And is this Temari?"

I nodded as Temari grinned politely, holding out her hand for a shake. "Yes, I'm Temari, Shikamaru's girlfriend."

I would have to get used to her saying she was my girlfriend.

Hinata happily took hold of her hand and shook it, "Pleased to meet you! I'm Hinata,"

"The bride to be!" Temari's happy tone was unfamiliar to me, seeing as how I was so accustomed to her relaxed tone.

Hinata smiled, "Yes, I am! I am so glad that Shikamaru has found someone," She placed her frail hand on my shoulder, "Everyone deserves to be happy." That was Hinata for you. Sweet and so optimistic. I always enjoyed being around her; She really was a perfect match for Naruto.

"And where is the groom?" Temari asked, pretending to look around for a guy she wouldn't even recognize if she saw him.

"He is running a little late," Hinata stated, "He will be here-"

"WHAT IS UP MY MAIN BROTHERS AND SISTERS?!"

Hinata blushed and I rolled my eyes as Naruto's familiar voice barged open the bar door like he was some sort of rockstar and screamed loudly.

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear." Neji sighed as he absently walked by our table with a beer in his hand, obviously having overheard our conversation.

Sasuke looked annoyed too as Naruto waltzed up to his table, "Can you be anymore annoying?"

Naruto glared at his raven haired best man, "Shut up, Jerk! I'm just trying to lighten up the mood, since I'm here now, the party can start!"

"The mood was already lightened, idiot," Sakura bit sharply at the blond who's annoyed expression seemed to vanish.

"Sakura, why are you so mean to me!"

"Because you're-"

"Hey! Where's Hinata?" Naruto interrupted the now seething pinkette.

Ino narrowed her eyes at our table and pointed at us, while keeping her other arm tightly wrapped around Sasuke. "She's over there," She bitterly whispered.

Naruto, after seeing his red faced fiancée, trotted his happy ass over to our table and wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist, picking her up into his arms and squeezing her tightly as if he hadn't seen her in a decade.

"Hi, Honey!" Naruto exclaimed as he planted a kiss on her blushed cheek, "Why is your face so hot?"

Hinata cleared her throat, "Because you were very loud-"

"Who's this?" He interrupted her as he placed Hinata back on the floor and stared at Temari.

"It's Temari, dumbass," I crossed my arms, "Who else would it be?"

Naruto breathed loudly at me, "Geez, everyone is in a bad mood tonight!"

"We're not in a bad mood, you're just-"

"Hi, I'm Naruto!" Naruto interrupted me, the third person since he got here, "I'm pleased to meet you Tanari!" He held out his hand for a shake.

I could have sworn I saw Temari's eye twitch. He was too obnoxious for someone as laid back as her, I should have assumed he would get on her last nerve. "It's Temari," She corrected him as she placed her hand in his firm grasp.

"That's what I said," Naruto shook her hand roughly before she physically removed her hand from his. He looked at her with his big blue eyes, examined her completely for a few seconds, which made Temari shift uncomfortably. Then he looked over at me and smirked, "Wow, Shikamaru, she's a lot _bigger_ than Ino!" He meant this to be in a whisper, but it clearly was not, because he was the worst whisperer in the world. And by 'bigger' he clearly meant that she was better, well, _developed_ than Ino.

Temari looked as if she were going to punch his lights out, when Hinata quickly stepped in. "Naruto, let's go find a table." She took his hand before he could object and started leading him away.

"What-oh, okay," He absently followed Hinata's lead, "It was nice to meet you, Tanari!"

I tried to hold back a snicker as Temari flashed an utterly annoyed stare at me. "Really?" She looked annoyed at my suppressed laughter.

I smiled, "It's funny,"

"He is so annoying!" Temari replied back in a whisper.

I let out a small chuckle, "Welcome to our world."

Temari's sighed as her eyes shifted back over to Ino, Sasuke and Sakura's table. I followed her gaze and saw that Ino had resumed staring at us, just as Sasuke had resumed his conversation with Sakura. Temari grinned across from me as she reached over the table and took my hands into hers. Ino's posture spiked up when she saw her touch me.

Then, Ino placed her hand on Sasuke's cheek, which caught him slightly off guard as he was still in mid conversation with Sakura. She then pulled his face so that he was looking at Ino, and planted a fat juicy kiss on his lips. So juicy, I could see the glistening of the saliva from my table that made me want to barf.

"Ino," Sasuke pulled away from the blond who didn't seem to be focused on what she was doing. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and looked annoyed, "For fucks sake, we're in public and I'm in the middle of a conversation."

"Sorry," Ino stated quickly as her eyes were still on us. She wasn't one for subtlety, that's for sure.

I glanced over at Temari who had the same exact grin on her face as I did. "She doesn't even know what to do with herself," She cackled lightly. "She's trying to make you jealous of Sasuke."

"Well, she's going to be trying for a while." I replied, looking over to Temari. "I feel bad that Sasuke had to endure all of that saliva." I smiled as Temari's fingers clenched in-between mine tighter. She was loving tormenting Ino just as much as I was.

"She's not very sneaky when it comes to staring," Temari pointed out.

I shook my head, "No, she isn't."

"If I'm going to have to tolerate her pig face looking at me the entire night, I'm going to need a buzz," She giggled as she let go of my hand. I frowned as the heat from her skin evaded from mind, as it seemed I had grown kind of accustomed to her hand in mine. "I'm going to go grab a beer. Want one?"

I nodded, dismissing the thought from my head. "Just one."

"Like I would ever give you more than one," She scoffed, obviously referring to the first time we met.

I scowled, "You just won't ever let that go, will you?"

"Never," she smiled as she stood up, pulling her dress down a bit once she was up. "Be right back."

I idly watched as Temari sauntered up to the bar and asked the bar tender for two beers. The bar tender nodded, said that he'd have to go to the back to restock a bit, and left as Temari was waiting. All the while, a very masculine looking man happened to be staring at her from two stools over. He was huge, like the size of Chouji's dad, but built with muscle rather than fat.

He leaned over and greeted her, receiving a snobby reaction from Temari, "What's your name, beautiful?"

"Temari," Temari stated blandly.

"Beautiful name for a beautiful girl," The man winked as he commented, making Temari grimace. "I noticed you as soon as you walked in tonight. I see you with that average looking guy over there." He nodded his head in my direction.

"So?" Was Temari's response.

"Don't you think you're too beautiful to be with a guy like that?"

The bar tender came back with a box full of cold beers that had been in the freezer. He reached in and handed Temari two beers after he placed the box on the ground.

"I'm not interested," Temari glared as she turned her attention to the beers on the bar.

The man grabbed Temari's wrist as she wrapped her fingers around the beer bottle. "Why don't you ditch that loser and come hang out with me at my place?"

Temari looked utterly annoyed, not intimidated, but annoyed as if she were used to being treated like that. "I actually happen to like that loser. No thanks." She stated firmly as she shook out of his grasp.

The man looked agitated at his rejection, "C'mon, baby. You can play hard to get all you want, but you know by the end of the night you will be coming home with me."

"Back off, asshole." Temari growled through her teeth. She turned with the two beers in her hands and began to walk around the guy to return back to our table.

She had taken all of two steps before the guy grabbed her waist from behind, completely startling her and making her drop her bottles on ground with a loud glass breaking crash, and gripped her ass with one palm as if he were grasping a trophy.

Temari gasped as he squeezed her butt in his open palm, and he laughed. "Yeah, its as firm as it looks! That'll be a nice asset to my bedroom tonight, right baby?" His loud laughter roared in the bar, causing many people to glance in his direction. Temari's face was red with either embarrassment or anger, I couldn't tell which. All I know, was that I jumped up from that table so fast, I was sure my head would be spinning if adrenaline hadn't been keeping me upright.

I was rushing over to Temari's aid, when she took the matter into her own hands. She quickly twisted around, reaching down and physically removing his hand from her rear. Once she had faced him head on, her right palm quickly met the side of his cheek, sending a loud _SMACK_ that bounced off the walls. The man stumbled back from the unexpected strike to his face and lifted his hand up to cover his burning cheek. It was already beginning to turn a dark pink in the shape of a hand imprint and Temari was seething once he looked back at her like she was crazy.

"Don't you ever," Temari's hands were shaking with fury, "Touch me like that again!"

Everyone in the bar was watching now at the scene that had just unfolded in front of them. Even the bar keeper seemed to stop pouring drinks to see what the man's reaction would be. Based on his facial expression, he was not used to being rejected, much less being struck by a woman. It did not take long before his own face was red with fury and he had reached over and grabbed Temari's wrist with his big meaty hand, ignoring her attempts to free herself.

"You bitch!" He screamed as he held up a fist with his other hand. "I'll teach you to be disrespectful!" Everyone gasped at the sight, knowing full well that he was going to punch her, but nobody dared move to stop him.

If time hadn't been on my side, he would have hit her, no doubt. But I got there in time, and rather than his fist striking Temari's eye, it struck mine as I leaped in front of her at the last minute. I really don't remember how it all happened, my adrenaline was rushing so quickly that at first I didn't even feel the pain. All I could think about was getting Temari away from him and even though my eye had instantly swollen shut a few seconds after impact, I managed to free her arm from his grasp and kick him in his abdomen, causing him to stumble backwards on his ass.

Like I said, I wish I could have given a play back of the fight, but I was running solely on adrenaline and my right eye had completely blacked out. The only thing that ran vividly through my mind at the time was all the gasps from unidentified sources and Temari's scream.

"Shikamaru!" She screamed as I fell to my knees, grasping my eye as the pain began rushing to the socket once it had registered to me that I had just kicked that big ass brute down. I felt her arms wrap around my back tightly, at least I think it was her, but I couldn't focus too much on it because of the blinding pain. The vision in that eye was lost and I actually feared for a few seconds that I was going to go blind.

Because of the focus on my burning eye, I hadn't noticed the guy get up off the floor. He held his abdomen delicately as he stood, clearly feeling pain from where I had kicked him, and his large eyes were deadest on me as he began to charge like a bull after a red cape.

Except, I was the red cape.

I could have sworn I saw my life flash before my eyes, but then I quickly realized that it wasn't my life I was seeing in a blur, but rather Naruto and Neji. I was right about Temari being the one to wrap her arms around me, because she quickly shifted to my right and threw my arm around her shoulders as Neji and Naruto jumped in between the huge brute and me.

The guy had clearly not expected anyone to come in my aid, because he was in complete shock when Naruto fell to the ground and swiped his feet out from under him, causing him to fall onto his back with a loud _THUD_ that shook the entire bar. Before the guy could even get up, Neji was on top of him. Neji pulled back his fist and made contact with his nose, sending a bone cracking echo in the building. The guy's eyes instantly began tearing up as blood gushed out of his now broken nose, but Neji didn't stop. He punched him again, this time in his throat, causing the guy to gasp for air that Neji had taken away from him. Naruto had jumped up and kicked the man in his ribs hard enough for the man to cry out in pain and I honestly don't know how much longer Neji and Naruto had ganged up on him before someone had physically pulled them off of him.

The barkeeper had called the police sometime during the conflict, I don't know when he did, but soon after Neji and Naruto were removed from the brute, the police had arrived and called an ambulance. I'd be lying if I said I was paying attention to the entire situation after the police came, but I wasn't. All of my attention was on the blinding pain in my eye.

Temari had walked me outside while the paramedics boarded up the large man into the car and the police were talking to Naruto and Neji. I heard Hinata crying as I was walking out and I genuinely felt like a piece of shit. Her fiancée and cousin had just gotten in a brawl and I felt like it was my fault.

Temari sat me down on the hard sidewalk next to the ambulance who had started to drive away and the police car with his red and blue lights blinking vigorously.

There was a herd of people squeezing out of the commotion filled bar, trying to get away from the police before they could talk to them, I assumed. They walked around us, and one guy even kicked me in the back accidentally, but I didn't acknowledge them or the kick. I just held my eye until Temari sat down next to me and started to look over my pulsing eye.

"You definitely have a black eye," Temari pointed out the obvious, "But regardless of how it feels, the swelling actually isn't too bad. It should go down quite a bit if you keep ice on it for the rest of the night."

"I can't see out of it," I stated in exhaustion.

"Do you need to go to the doctor?"

I shook my head. "I don't do doctors."

Temari furrowed her eyebrows at me, "Don't be stubborn. You need to be looked over."

"Go get Sakura," I deadpanned, "She is in med school, maybe she would know something."

Temari quickly nodded without any objections and ran back into the bar. A few minutes later, she came back with Sakura quickly in tow. Temari sat back down on the sidewalk to my right as Sakura knelt down in front of me and immediately began examining my eye.

"You said you can't see anything?" She asked as her green eyes stared intently at my bruised face.

I simply shook my head.

She quietly examined it for a minute or two, before saying, "Well, from what I can tell, its not bleeding or anything," She said as she took my chin into her pale hands and tilted my face enough to where she could see all the angles, "That's a good sign. I would say it's just most likely from the impact, and you've got temporary blindness. If it doesn't come back within a few hours though, you need to go to the doctor."

I grimaced in response.

"No objections," she wagged her finger at me like a scolding mother.

"Fine." I sighed.

She eyed Temari next to me, "Make sure he goes if he needs to," She clearly didn't believe me. I didn't blame her, she knew me well by now.

Temari nodded, "You got it."

Sakura looked as if she were going to say something else, but was interrupted by a police officer who came to ask her about the incident, claiming that she was a valuable witness. Although, they could have just closed their eyes and pointed at anyone in the bar if they wanted a witness, everyone had watched it happen.

Sakura left with the police officer and I felt Temari grip my arm tightly as she sat next to me, letting out a sigh.

"Well, that was eventful."

"Hm." I replied.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Temari asked in a scolding manner, "That guy was totally going to wipe the floor with you. You are like half his size!"

I didn't look at her as I replied almost in a whisper, "He was going to hit you."

"I had it handled," She replied back sharply. "You shouldn't have jumped in like that. If he would have hit you in your nose, you'd be in that ambulance along with him right now."

"He was going to hit you," I repeated slower as if she hadn't heard me the first time. "What was I supposed to do? Just let him do it?"

"I deal with douche bags like him on a daily basis," Temari replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world, "I can handle insecure jerks like him. I don't want to see someone get hurt over me, especially over something like that."

"I didn't think about it," I responded while looking at the black road below me, "I just…was mad."

Temari seemed to not expect my response, "What?"

"I said I was mad." I repeated.

"Why?"

"Because you don't deserve some asshole coming up to you and treating you like a piece of meat," I finally looked over at her, who once again was a bit startled by the bluntness of my answer.

She sighed, "I told you, Shikamaru. I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't have to be used to that," I furrowed my eyebrows instinctively, and flinched when another wave of pain surged through my face. "You shouldn't have to put up with assholes like him. You don't deserve that."

She cocked her head at me in curiosity, "I've been dealing with jerks like him my whole life. Just what do you think I deserve then, Shikamaru?"

"I'll tell you exactly what you deserve," My tone was edgier than it had been a few seconds ago, I don't know if it was because of the pain or because I could feel myself getting angry just thinking about that guy grabbing her ass a few moments ago. "You deserve a guy who is going to take you out to a nice dinner…or a movie, and buy you flowers afterwards. You deserve someone who will open doors for you, not shut them in your face. And you damn sure don't deserve someone cheating on you."

It was clear to her I was referring to Sasori, the ex she had briefly told me about before, but she did not comment on it. Her face was too much in shock to say anything.

"That's what you deserve," I said as I shifted my eyes back to the road and away from her face, "And if that makes me a loser, or whatever, so be it. I mean what I said."

There was a long moment of silence after what I had said, and I was afraid to look back at her, fearful that perhaps I had stepped over a line when bringing up Sasori. But I didn't apologize. I didn't apologize because I wasn't sorry. Temari was too good of a woman to be cheated on…and I was too good of a person to be cheated on. We were both too good of people who had gotten taken advantage of. And we didn't deserve that. We didn't.

After the silence was almost deafening to me, I decided that perhaps I should break the ice. However, as I was beginning to turn my face to look back at her, I stopped when I felt her face move in close to mine, and her lips make contact with the middle of my cheek. They were soft…and warm. Although, I wasn't sure if it was her lips that were warm, or my cheek that began flushing bright pink as soon as she removed her lips from my skin.

I looked at her, one eye wide open while the other was still swollen shut. She opened her mouth to speak, and her voice was uncharacteristically cracked when she replied.

"No one has ever said that to me before," She paused, trying to clear her throat from cracking again, "Thank you."

We stared at each other for a few minutes then. As she was looking at me, it was as if all the pain in my eye had subsided and it was just us. Just like back at the quarry, when we were both under the water, it was just us. Nothing else in the world except her eyes staring into mine.

And just like that, my heart beat faster as a new emotion for Temari began to wash over me.

* * *

**A/N:** AWWW ShikaTema fluff :) I'm not going to lie, i had major writers block when it came to this chapter. I can't tell you how much i edited, took out scenes, rewrote scenes, ect. It ended up being longer than i expected, but hey, long chapters are rarely bad. I hope you guys enjoyed it, even though I'm sure there are some errors i overlooked. Anyway, please shoot me a review, because like i said, i struggled with this chapter alot and i'd love to hear some feedback.

REVIEW IF YOU'RE READY FOR SOME SHIKATEMA LOVIN! :)


	10. Chapter 10

I just wanted to go home.

My head was throbbing and my body felt heavy. Every time I took a step it felt like my feet were made out of lead. Instead of doping up on ibuprofen and sleeping for the next day and a half, however, I was stuck in the clinic at the police station. After the fight had been broken up and that perverted asshole rode off in the ambulance, a few police officers took Neji, Naruto, myself and a few of the other guys friends back to the station for further questioning. Apparently they had also called Temari in as well, but we got split up and I hadn't seen any sign of her yet.

"How's the eye feeling?"

I had momentarily forgotten about the nurse who was sitting a few feet away from me, jotting something down quickly on the chart she had written up for the station's records.

"Fine," I lied.

She didn't look up at me; it didn't take a genius to figure out that she didn't really care about me personally. I had been here for about an hour or so and all she had done for me was put ice on it and make the environment incredibly awkward with her deafening silence.

"Have you regained any sight yet?" She continued to jot unknown scribbles on her papers.

"I can see shapes," I said as I closed my opposite eye to see how well the vision was in my bad one. All I could see was the faint blurriness of a filing cabinet and the long blurry brown mass of a wooden door a few feet away. "But everything else is blurry."

"It's a good sign its coming back at least," The nurse said something useful for the first time since I got here.

"Can I leave yet?" My tone didn't hide my irritation very well.

"You can't leave until the police ask you a few questions," She stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I sighed, "Fine, can I go sit out in the lobby then?"

"Because of your medical condition, you have to remain under medical supervision. A precaution just in case we would need to send you to the hospital." She answered, finally looking up at me from her chart. She was young, maybe late twenties, early thirties. She had black hair and pale skin, but her uniquely colored eyes were what drew attention to her face. Her eyes were a deep crimson red, the same color red that matched her shade of lipstick. She was a very attractive woman and I noticed her name tag said Kurenai.

"Send me to the hospital for a black eye?" I scoffed, "What are they going to do, send me to the pediatric ward for a hug and a sucker?"

Annoyance flashed across the nurse's face and she had clearly decided that my smartass remark was not worth gracing a reply with as she turned her spinning stool away from me.

I usually tried to be somewhat respectful to people who were older than me, but I wasn't really in the mood to be a sitting duck in a room that smelt like rubbing alcohol and coffee. I had a migraine from hell and all I wanted to do was go home and shield myself from the outside world.

The creaking of a door dragged me out of my inner thoughts as I turned my head to meet the gaze of one of the police officers that brought us in earlier.

"How are you feeling?" The cop asked, his tone was as flat as the hair attached to his receding hairline.

I shrugged, "About as well as one would expect."

"Fair enough," He seemed somewhat satisfied with my honest answer. He placed his hands on his belt and licked the edge of his mouth, making an uncomfortable slurping sound, before he continued speaking, "I'm gonna jump right to it so that we can all go home and call it a night. Sound good?"

I simply nodded my head, but in my mind I wanted to fall on the floor and thank the heavens that God sent me an angel who would let me go to sleep soon.

"We talked to your friends, Neji and Naruto, and they informed us of what happened. We also collected the video tape from the bar and watched it as well which confirmed that they were telling the truth. We talked to the man who assaulted you and Ms. Temari, and since he knows we have all the footage on camera, he doesn't want to press any charges against any of you. We asked Temari if she wanted to press any sexual harassment charges and she also declined-"

"Wait, what?" I interrupted him before he could even finish his statement. "Temari isn't pressing charges?"

He shook his head before replying, "She said she just wants everyone to go on home and that enough trouble has been caused tonight."

"She needs to press charges against that creep," I clenched my fists just at the replay image of him grabbing her like she was a piece of meat for the taking. "Can't you talk to her again? Can I talk to her?"

"The choice is up to her completely, we can have no interference."

I wanted to object again, but I knew it would do no good, so I just kept quiet.

"Unless Ms. Temari decides to press charges, we'll just call the matter settled. The man who assaulted you and her will have to pay a fine and we'll just report on your side that it was self-defense."

I sighed and nodded. I strongly wanted to urge Temari to file charges, but I already knew trying to convince her against a choice she already made would get me nowhere. She was even more stubborn than me.

"Well, how bout it?" The police officer pressed, bringing me from my inner thoughts. "You want to wrap all this up and go on home?"

I still wanted to press the sexual harassment matter, but I just nodded instead.

"Good," The police officer turned to look at the nurse, "Go ahead and get him finished up here, Kurenai." He glanced back at me, "Neji and Naruto will be ready to leave soon and Temari should be done with officer Asuma soon too. She said she wanted to wait for you until you were allowed to leave."

The officer left and Kurenai spend the next few minutes completeing my report, giving me instructions on how to care for my eye and giving me signs to look for to determine if my eye was getting worse, and telling me that if I got any of these signs to go to the hospital right away. Honestly, I was only half listening.

As soon as I was allowed to step foot out of the room, I grinned as I thought of falling into my soft, comfy bed, and submitting myself into a sleep coma. My smile vanished within the next few seconds, however, as I heard the last thing in the world I wanted to hear at that moment behind me.

"Oh my God, Shikamaru!" A familiar shriek echoed in the small lobby and I didn't even have to look for the person that shriek belonged to. It was all too familiar to me.

I turned around and saw a blur of blue clothing and blond hair running towards me and before I even had time to react, her arms were thrown around my neck and she was holding me in what felt like a death grip. Her sweet pea perfume filled my nostrils on impact and initially my first instinct was to push her off of me, but I fought off the urge.

"Ino?" I was honestly surprised to see her and even more surprised she had nearly tried to tackle me to the ground. "Ino, what are you doing here?"

"I came as soon as I could," Ino pulled away from me, releasing her snake like grip on me. "I was so worried. I saw that man punch you…and then everything was a blur after that. I tried finding you to see if you were okay, but then Hinata told me that they took you, Naruto and Neji back to the station for more questions."

Her facial expression actually looked genuinely worried, but she still didn't answer my question. "Okay," I stated flatly, "But what are you doing here?"

"Is it so wrong to make sure that you are okay?" Ino asked, furrowing her eyebrows at me.

"Not wrong, just weird," I replied back bluntly.

I wasn't sure exactly what piece of information that she did not understand, because she still seemed very confused at my skepticism. She leaned back and put her fists on her hips; a stance I knew all too well. "Why is it weird that I wanted to check on you?"

I ignored her question and looked past her, glancing around the lobby for someone I had fully expected to be there with her, but he wasn't.

I shifted my gaze back to her, "Where's Sasuke?" I asked.

She clearly had not expected me to ask that question, because she seemed to be somewhat taken surprised by it, "What?"

"Where's Sasuke?" I repeated.

"He's at my house," Ino replied back, quieter that I expected her to be. "Why does that matter?"

"Does he know you're here?"

Ino's expression was growing slightly annoyed, I could tell by the edge in her eyes. "What does Sasuke have to do with you being okay?" She didn't have to answer my question. It was obvious through her response that Sasuke was unaware of where she was.

I squinted my one good eye at her, I'm sure my expression looked very strange due to my heavily bruised eye, but I didn't care. I wanted to know what her motive was. "What are you doing here, Ino." It wasn't a question this time.

"I told you," Ino's tone became more bitter, "I was just checking to make sure you were okay."

I didn't believe her. There was a motive. With Ino, there was always a motive.

"Well, I'm fine." I stated, "Better than ever."

She obviously caught onto my sarcasm by the way her lips tightened into a frown. "Do you need a ride home?"

"What?" For a minute I thought I misheard her.

"I said, do you need a ride home?" She repeated, raising a brow and crossing her arms.

I scoffed, "Why would I get a ride from you?"

Ino's gaze shifted, "I thought you might need one. You clearly can't drive with your eye like that and your car is at the bar."

"I'll be fine," I was short with my response.

"Don't be stubborn," She replied strictly, "I can take you to get your car at least-"

I had just opened my mouth say something that would probably get me a slap in the face, when I noticed Temari step out into the lobby from what looked like an interview room. We caught each other gazes immediately as I looked past Ino, my heart genuinely happy to see Temari walking towards me.

Ino saw me look past her, turned around, and immediately gritted her teeth as she watched Temari approach us.

"Are you alright?" I asked in a concerning tone as Temari stepped over to my side. She wrapped her arms around my torso in a hug, which at first startled me, but I quickly caught on to her acting since Ino was standing right in front of us.

"I'm fine," She replied, in a worrisome tone that I wasn't accustomed to, "I was just so worried about you." Her beautiful eyes looked up into mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ino's eye twitch. Damn, Temari was an excellent actress.

Ino cleared her throat awkwardly. Temari broke eye contact and looked over to her, her expression becoming tight.

"What's going on over here, Shika?" She asked in a tone as if she called me 'Shika' on a regular basis.

"Er, Ino was-" I began, but was rudely interrupted.

"I was offering him a ride," Ino stated bluntly, her tone soaked in poison.

Temari cocked her head to the side, "Oh really? Well, I think I can handle taking care of _my _boyfriend from here."

Ino snickered sarcastically, "Funny, aren't you the whole reason he's here anyway?"

Temari let me go and prepared herself to stand up to Ino, but I quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her. Getting the hint that Temari was ready to rip her into shreds, Ino stepped away and looked over her shoulder.

"See you later, Shikamaru. If you need anything, let me know." And with her statement, she left.

Temari scoffed, "Why'd you stop me?"

I raised a brow, "Getting in a fight in a police department? Do I really need to explain myself?" Before Temari could respond, we both turned our heads to a "Hey, Shikamaru!" that came from across the lobby. Naruto was coming towards us in a powerwalk, followed by Neji swiftly behind him. Even this late, Naruto was still hyperactive.

"Is everyone okay? God, your eye looks like hell, Shikamaru." Naruto grimaced as he looked me up and down. He looked over at Temari, "And are you okay, Temari? I didn't get to see you after, you know, everything happened." Neji let out an annoyed sigh that the rest of us chose to ignore. He was clearly not happy about the current situation. Of course, no one was, but getting in trouble with law enforcements was the exact opposite way of Neji Hyuuga.

"I'm fine," Temari reassured him, "Just ready to call all of this a night." She let out a sigh.

I nodded, "Yeah, let's get out of here. I'm sure one of the officers wouldn't mind dropping us off to our cars at the bar."

Naruto nodded as well, "Sure, I'll go up and ask. Hinata's been worried sick, my phone has fifteen unread messages from her. Neji, want to come with?"

Neji shook his head. "I'll walk home. It is not far."

I shrugged, "Oh, well, thanks for everything you did tonight." I turned to walk away, but stopped when I heard Neji let out a loud scoff.

"You have the nerve to _thank_ me?" His expression was angry. Everyone looked at Neji and remained silent while tension began to fill the air. Neji's pale eyes were cold as they peered angrily into mine.

Awkward silence lingering, I decided to say, "Uh, yeah, I mean," I was trying to find the right words, "Thank you for intervening. I could have ended up hospitalized if you and Naruto hadn't had stepped in-"

"I did not intervene for you," Neji's tone was cold and dark, his face was intimidating. "I stepped in so that Hinata would not be forced to watch her fiancée be violently beaten to a bloody pulp. The only reason I intervened was because Naruto does not think through his actions before doing them." I hate to admit it, but his words stung me a little. I'm not sure why; Maybe just at the thought that he would have just stood there and let the guy kill me. He didn't care at all.

Naruto grew furious beside me, I could tell by how quickly he turned around to look Neji in his cold, eerie eyes. "What the hell did you just say? Are you serious right now? You really think you were the one who stopped that creep?"

"I did not say I was the one who stopped him," Neji countered, "But I do firmly believe that he would have wiped the floor with you both. Especially you, Naruto. You do not think before you do things and let emotions cloud your judgment."

"Woah, calm down, man-" I started to say but was quickly interrupted.

"Do not tell me to calm down," Neji stepped forward, which made me subconsciously step back, "I do not care what you do in your spare time, Shikamaru Nara, but you will not bring that kind of violence around my cousin ever again. Such behavior should not ever be displayed in front of a woman."

I felt myself getting angry now, "Are you serious? You think I planned for that fight? That I wanted to fight? He was going to hit Temari!"

"Temari should have simply ignored him and returned to your table," Neji stated as if Temari weren't standing right next to me.

Temari let out a sarcastic chuckle, "Really, dude? He grabbed my ass and you expect me to not retaliate?"

Neji didn't look at her, he just continued to stare me down as he replied with, "There are civil ways to handle delicate situations that do not result in violence."

"Really?" Temari roared, "Hey, fuck you, man!"

"Yeah, seriously, what the hell is wrong with you, Neji?!" Naruto reached out and grabbed Neji's shirt collar. "You're going to go on about being respectful to women, but get not defend a woman who was just sexually harassed publicly?!"

"Hey!" A police officer yelled from the front desk, obviously hearing the raised voices and seeing Naruto in Neji's face. "Cut that out, or I swear, you both will be sleeping in a cell tonight!"

Naruto growled, but let go, not taking his eyes off of Neji. Neji pushed him away and got back into his face, his nose only inches away from Naruto's.

"Mark my words, Uzumaki," His tone was ghost like and haunting as he whispered, "Act that way in front of my cousin again, and there will be no wedding."

Neji purposely bumped into Naruto's shoulder as he turned and left through the glass door exit.

* * *

We collected ourselves quickly after our little encounter with Neji and had the officers return us to our cars. Naruto yelled, cursed, and ranted the whole ride back about Neji and Temari was on her own tangent about the matter. I couldn't get a single word in between the both of them, even if I wanted to.

We got to the bar and split off, Naruto getting into his car and Temari and I getting into mine. I managed to calm Naruto down to a point where I could talk to him before we left.

"Just calm down and go to Hinata," I said through his open window as he sat in his drivers seat, "Focus on her."

"I just can't believe he had the nerve-" He started again, but I stopped him.

"You know how protective he is over Hinata. They're cousins, but she's like his little sister. He's just looking after her."

"You seriously think he's right?!" Naruto roared.

"I didn't say that," I said calmly, "I'm just saying, I get why he's angry. Just stop thinking about it for tonight and go get some rest."

Naruto sighed, "Fine. See you soon," He muttered as he rolled up his window. He drove off as I got into my car, looking at Temari who was already buckled in the drivers seat, her expression still told me she was seething.

"What's that guy's problem?" Temari barked as soon as she turned the key, the engine roar following.

"Neji's a little uptight," I replied as she backed out of the parking spot and started hitting the gas pedal.

"Uptight? UPTIGHT?" Temari started laughing angrily, which quite frankly scared the hell out of me. "Uptight isn't a strong enough word to describe that jerk!"

"Look, Neji's parents died when he was young and his uncle, Hinata's father, took him in. He feels like hes her protector. I'm not defending him, im just saying, give the guy a little bit of a break."

Temari sighed and gripped the steering wheel tighter, "Whatever," she replied, but didn't press the topic anymore. Neji had always been an interesting character, for as long as i've known him, he's been strict and cold. Naruto had told me about Neji's story, explaining that when Neji was six years old, both of his parents got into a car crash and died on impact. His uncle, Hiashi, took him in and raised him along with Hinata and her sister, Hanabi. Neji had used to be a fun and loving child, but ever since his parents death, he had become cold and protective of his remaining family. I'm not saying i agreed with his view on Temari and that pervert at the bar, I'm just saying I can understand why he is protective. He was trying to protect Hinata just like I was trying to protect Temari.

I glanced over and saw Temari still gripping the steering wheel, her knuckles were white. "Do you want me to drive?" I asked, seeing that her emotions were still high from the night.

"Does it look like I want to die? With your eye, you're not driving around."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not handicapped, for fucks sake, I can drive."

"No," She shook her head, "I'm fine. Besides, we're not far from my house anyway."

I stopped, "Wait, you're not taking me home?" When had this been discussed?

She didn't reply for a minute, then in almost a whisper said, "I was assuming you'd spend the night at my house."

I shrugged, "I mean, that's fine, I just…I don't know," I wanted to kick myself, I was sounding like an idiot. I couldn't tell if it was because of my exhaustion or because I honestly didn't know how to react to spending the night at Temari's house.

"I just figured it'd be a good idea, you know…if you needed a doctor or something." Temari replied, "But I can take you home, if you want."

I shook my head, "No, its fine. That'll just take us longer to get to bed. Plus, you wouldn't have a way to get back home since this is my car. Your house is fine for tonight."

Temari didn't say anything, she just gave me a quick nod to indicate that she agreed.

We drove in silence for a few minutes, nothing but the sounds of cars passing by, when I finally broke the silence.

"Why didn't you press charges?"

Temari's eyebrows furrowed as she silently processed my quick and random question. "Why should I?" She countered.

I shot her an obvious glance, "Because he deserves some sort of punishment for how he treated you."

"Was getting a broken nose not enough of punishment?" She questioned.

"You can't just let guys get away with treating you like that." My reply came out harsher than I had intended and I regretted it as soon as it escaped from my mouth.

Temari's expression quickly changed from questioning to anger. "Excuse me?" Her tone alone was enough to scare me shitless. "You think I _let _men treat me like that?"

I sighed, "No, that's not what I mean't-"

"Enlighten me, then," She interrupted curtly, "What exactly did you mean?"

"Nothing, forget it." I turned away, eager to get away from this topic before she ended up kicking me out of the car. The silence was awkward, but I preferred it any day over getting yelled at by a woman, especially Temari, who would easily chew me up and spit me back out.

* * *

We got to her house, finally after what seemed like an eternity of silence, and I can honestly say that I can't remember the last time I was so happy to fall onto a couch. So happy, in fact, that i did not remember that Temari had a cat and I happened to fall on top of the damn thing as soon as my back hit the cushion. Its loud shriek the both of us to the point where we both jumped and it leaped up off the couch and ran into the bathroom, hiding itself behind the toilet. Temari glared at me; I shrugged and said 'sorry'.

I had laid my head on the soft cushion as Temari had begun taking off her shoes. I snuggled into the pillow and couldn't help but smile and let out a deep sigh.

"Do you need some alone time with the couch?" Temari asked, both sarcastically and with concern.

"Sorry," I apologized without looking at her, "You just have no idea how good this feels. I am so exhausted I feel like I could sleep for the next three days straight."

"Well, if the couch feels that good," She started saying, dropping her shoes on the ground with a loud THUNK, "You'll feel like you're sleeping on a cloud on the bed."

As tired as I was, that did not have any impact on how fast I sat up after what Temari had just said. "I'm sorry, what?" I asked, there was no way I had heard her right.

She raised her eyebrow as she reached up to untie her hair, it fell loosely onto her shoulders, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I didn't hear what you said."

"I said you'll think the bed is a cloud, if you think the couch is that comfortable." She repeated, verifying that I did indeed hear her right.

I tried to act normal, "Oh, is this a two bedroom?" I asked, looking around to see if I could find another door in the apartment that might look like another room.

She shook her head, "Its a one bedroom." She replied so calmly, like this was an everyday conversation.

I felt my heart beat a little faster, "Wait, so...that would mean I would use your bed."

"Uh, yeah, that's what that means," Temari said slowly, as if I were an idiot that couldn't understand english. She must have seen the look on my face, because she then asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No, its no problem, where, uh, are you going to sleep then?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head.

She pursed her lips, "Well, I was going to sleep in my bed too."

My heart skipped. Who was this and what did she do with Temari? There was a brief silence, where neither one of us met eye contact, until Temari finally said,

"I'm sorry, usually I would offer an air mattress, but Gaara is borrowing it-"

I shook my head quickly, not wanting to come off as offensive, "No, no, its just-"

"Look, if you're uncomfortable with that, you can sleep on the couch. I just thought the bed might be a little more comfortable..." She trailed off, her cheeks becoming a slight shade of pink. Oh no. I didn't want her to feel embarrassed.

I quickly shook my head again, "No, its fine, I'm fine, I mean, um..." I started stuttering, trying to find the words to say, "I mean, are you okay with it?"

She paused at first, then replied with, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be? I mean...we're both adults, right? We can sleep in the same bed as friends without sex having to be implied, right?"

It took me by surprise when she said we were friends. I had yet to hear her to refer to us as friends and I had never done so either. I tried to find words to reply with, but all I could do was give her a stupid, sheepish nod in response.

She replied back with a smirk, "Okay, fine. I'll get ready for bed, give me a few minutes."

In those short few minutes after she walked into her bedroom, my mind felt like it was going a million miles a minute. Was I dreaming? Did I fall asleep on the couch so quickly that i didn't even realize it, and was now having a dream that Temari volunteered her bed to me?

But it wasn't a dream. If it was a dream then my eye wouldn't be pounding with pain and I wouldn't be listening to Temari rustle around in her room as she as getting herself ready for bed.

What was I doing? Was I really going to sleep in the same bed as Temari? She was right, it didn't have to be about sex or anything, but did i really want to put myself and Temari in an awkward situation like that? I had never slept in the same bed with a woman I wasn't having sex with. I had always grown up with my mother saying, "Nothing good ever happens after midnight," and I can honestly say that statement has always been true in my short few years on this earth. I looked up at Temari's black clock that was hanging up above her tv and it read, 4:13a.m. Way past midnight for sure.

Temari called to me that I could come in whenever I was ready, and without even thinking more about it, I stood up and felt my legs start moving towards the bedroom. My mind kept saying over and over, "Don't inconvience her, turn around and go to the couch. Respect her, don't be a fuckboy," but my heart and body kept moving me forward until I was at the door, turning the knob to go in.

Temari was already laying in bed, wearing a black tshirt and red shorts that reached her mid thigh. Her hair was clearly brushed, but still a bit frizzy. She had clearly removed any kind of makeup she had on, but unlike with Ino when she would take hers off at night, you couldn't tell a huge difference with Temari. She was still beautifully stunning without it. Her bed looked to be a king size, with purple sheets and a comforter, white pillows, and black night stands on both sides.

I must have stood there looking stupid, because Temari finally said, "You planning on standing there like a creeper all night?"

I snapped myself out of my daydreaming and made my way to the opposite side of where she was, kicked my shoes off, and lifted the covers, crawling underneath them. Once i was adjusted, Temari leaned up and flicked off the lamp on her side and we were submerged in darkness aside from the window on her side that emitted a small amount of moonlight.

Even though I was excruciatingly tired, I couldn't seem to close my eyes. It was utterly silent in the room, aside from Temari's cat who seemed to make its way out from behind her toilet eventually and kept meowing loudly.

Other than that, all we could hear was one another's breathing. And it stayed that way for at least fifteen to twenty minutes.

I had begun to think that maybe Temari had already fallen asleep, but quickly received my answer when she sighed and said almost in a whisper, "I cant remember the last time someone laid down next to me."

Honestly, it caught me completely off guard. The only thing I came up with on the spot was a, "Me either."

She sighed again, "It's lonely sometimes at night. Have you ever noticed you only really think about being single when its late at night and no one else is around?"

I nodded, although I'm sure she didn't see it. "Yeah. Its because the only thing you're stuck with at night is your thoughts. And those can be just as dangerous as your worst enemy."

Temari didn't say anything for a few seconds, then replied with, "I wonder why I feel so vulnerable at night sometimes." Her tone was uncharacteristically soft, I wasn't used to it.

"Its because people don't understand that, you can be around a million people...friends and family, but nothing is quite the same as having a lover with you. You can be surrounded by people everyday, all day...and still be the loneliest person on the damn planet.'

It was quiet then and honestly, I was almost expecting Temari to play a joke on me, to tell me to stop being a damn baby and tell me I was being too sensitive. But instead, I heard a small voice whisper into the darkness, "Can I tell you something?"

I shrugged and replied with, "Sure."

"Honestly, I asked you to sleep in here because of me...not because I wanted you to be more comfortable."

I was confused, "What do you mean?"

It took her a minute to reply back, and I was almost sure she wasn't going to say anything back at all, until I heard her weakly reply back with a, "I just didn't want to be alone."

Suddenly, I felt Temari shift next to me, and she laid on her side that was facing me. Before I could even collect what was happening, i felt her warm, slender fingers interlace with my cold ones and her palm rest softly against mine. At first, I was certain I was dreaming. That I had drifted off to sleep without realizing it and was now having a dream about Temari laying with me in bed. I mean, there was no way this was real, right? Not the Temari i knew. The Temari i knew was strong, independent, and she would never need to rely on a man if her life depended on it. I didn't push her away. In fact, I didn't do or say anything. I wasn't accustomed to this side of Temari. I was at a loss for words.

I quickly realized it wasn't a dream, however, when Temari let out a soft, gentle sigh next to me and whispered, "It doesn't mean anything…it just felt we needed that."

I don't know why, but it felt like my heart skipped a beat. Maybe it was because I was overly exhausted from tonights events. Maybe it was because I really did need someone to reach over and hold my hand. Or…maybe it was because I was genuinely happy that Temari was lying beside me and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could actually be open and honest with someone. I wasn't sure what the reason was. All I was sure of, was that I really didn't want her to let go.

* * *

**A/N: Hey there faithful readers. I just wanted to let you guys know that I am still alive and I am still receiving all of your wonderful reviews. For those who care, here is a run down of my life since November. I moved twice. My boyfriend is now living with me. We didn't have internet for a long time. My laptop broke. I got a new job. He got a new job. We are moving again in August. His laptop is not reliable, and I have literally been working on this chapter on and off for the last three months. I just so happened to find the time to finish it today, and even though it is finished, it is very unpolished. You will find grammatical mistakes as well as spelling mistakes in this chapter even more so than other ones and I do apologize for that. I am sorry that I have not updated in what seems like a century. But i will revise my promise that i made several months ago, I WILL finish this story. If it kills me. If it takes me ten years to finish it(thats a bit of a dramatic time frame) but i WILL finish it. I promise i am reading all your reviews and trying my hardest to give you new material. Thank you SO much for not bombarding my inbox and leaving ugly reviews about me abandoning the story. It is not abandoned and never will be abandoned. Unfortunately, due to my extreme schedule and unreliable writing sources(damn technology) I can't promise another update soon. I can promise, however, that as long as you keep loving the story and leaving kind and supporting reviews, i will be trying my hardest to get you guys the next chapter as soon as i possibly can. Thank you all for your support and continuing to follow the story :)**


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